In Which Ike and Micaiah Finally Get Together
by Besh4221
Summary: Ike left Tellius for greater things, but he came back for someone. Micaiah's heart is broken, and she thinks the Hero of Tellius might be the one to heal her. But can it really be that easy? Rated M, to be safe. Ike/Micaiah. Now complete.
1. You Do?

**A/N:** Well, here we go. My first foray into the world of Fire Emblem. This is post-Radiant Dawn, so there will be quite a few spoilers, as well as a few references to Radiant Dawn's prequel, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. If you aren't willing to have certain things ruined for you, then I'd highly suggest not reading this until you've finished the game or know how it ends. Anyway, many thanks go to ElaiaFlameWolf. If not for me finding her forum and community, I probably would never have tried my hand at Ike/Micaiah fanfiction. I know I can't be the only person in all of who likes this pairing besides my fellow Maiden-Savior fans. This fanfiction is un-beta'd, so any grammatical errors are mine and mine alone. Also, no flames, please. Constructive criticism is always welcome; bashing my fanfiction is not.

That being said, enjoy the story, and leave me some reviews, please! I want to know if I've done them (the characters)good.

**Disclaimer: The fun about this sentence is that you don't realize it doesn't say anything until you've finished reading it. Also, I do not own Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn or Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. Those belong to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.**

**Chapter 1 - You Do?**

**This **- indicates emphasis, in place of CAPSLOCK.  
_This _- indicates a memory/flashback.  
"This" - indicates dialogue.  
'This' - indicates thought.

It was a day like any other in Tellius. Birds were singing, and all was at peace among all the nations of Tellius. It had been in this peaceful state since the end of the war with Begnion, and then against Ashera. Daein was once again a nation with a good and just Queen, Crimea had her own great and wise Queen, Elincia. Goldoa was now ruled by Prince (now King)Kurthnaga, Gallia by King Skrimir, and Tibarn now ruled the combined Hawk, Raven, and Heron clans.

Micaiah, the new Queen of Daein, Maiden of Dawn, Light Priestess, General of the Daein Liberation Army, leader of the Dawn Brigade, and Lady of Many Many Honorifics, sat in her throne room, contemplating. The subject of her contemplation: the Savior of Tellius, the Leader of the Greil Mercenaries, the once Supreme Commander of the Crimean Liberation Army, the Vanguard, the Hero Ike. Why he was on her mind, she'd never guess. She was happy with where she was in her life.

It was odd, but she'd never given him much thought before. Sure, he was on her mind when they were fighting Begnion, and then Ashera, with Yune's help, but then he'd left with Soren and Ranulf to lands unknown. He hadn't been seen since. And it hadn't bothered her; she loved Sothe. He was a good man, her protector, and he made a wonderful King. He gave her all that she always wanted. He had a good head on his shoulders.

It took Micaiah a while before she realized that she'd gone from, in naming the many good qualities that Sothe possessed, a tone of admiration to a tone of resignation, as though she were reciting it from a biography. A very very **dry** biography.

Sothe was all those amazing things and more; yet, he was also boring. He'd let his duties get in the way of everything, including his personal life. In particular, the love life he had with the "woman he loves". At first, there had been love. Fire. Passion. Micaiah couldn't have wanted for anything more. But, eventually, over time Sothe became more interested in ruling Daein and ensuring its stability than ensuring the well-being of the Queen and the one who **made** him King.

Micaiah missed what she had. Where had she gone wrong? Had it even been her that had been the problem? No, it wasn't her. It had been the discovery she'd made not that long ago.

_"Sothe?" Micaiah called out her husband's name, wondering where in the name of Tellius he could be. She'd checked everywhere; he hadn't been in the throne room, in the recreation chamber, the theater, the training grounds, or anywhere on the grounds, for that matter._

_She finally checked the last place she'd expect him to be on such a gorgeous day: the royal bedchamber._

_"Sothe…?" she asked quietly as she cracked open the door to hear grunts, pants, and creaking. Her heart in her throat, Micaiah opened the door fully to behold a sight that broke her heart._

_There was her Sothe, her husband, her lover, her King…pounding Jill Fizzart of Talrega into the mattress. "Oh, Sothe!" Jill cried, moaning more and more loudly the faster Sothe moved. Micaiah watched with a kind of sick fascination, her mind stuck in a rut. 'He's cheating on me…With Haar's wife!' And he was really going at it, by the looks of it. She'd thought he lost his passion. But he hadn't; he just saved it for Jill._

_Tears falling silently down her face, Micaiah slowly closed the door. Just when it was about to close, the door creaked and made the tiniest click as it shut. Micaiah froze, hoping to Ashera, Yune, and whatever gods and goddesses that existed that she hadn't been heard and discovered. She heard a loud female cry, and a low masculine moan, and the noises ceased, replaced only by heavy breathing. Micaiah hadn't been caught._

_She let out something between a sigh and a sob, before running off to her powder room to fix herself and make herself look presentable. No one must know of Sothe's affair with Jill. It would cast the pale light of doubt on the entire monarchy, possibly inviting a rebellion against the immoral rulers. No, for the sake of Daein, Micaiah had to make sure this secret remained just that._

_But, here, she was alone. Here she could grieve. _

_She let out a strangled cry, and watched in her oversize mirror as tears leaked from her eyes and gushed down her face in a torrent of misery, betrayal, shock, and pain. "H-how…how c-c-could…how could h-he?" she managed in between sobs. Her heart felt like it was being torn in two. She couldn't help but remember all the betrayals she'd gone through since the end of the war._

_First, it had been Leonardo and Edward who, surprisingly, were gay, lovers, and married. Upon making this announcement, Micaiah had only asked, "Why?" She meant, 'Why didn't you tell me sooner than this? Why did you pick **now** of all times to do this?' They had not only come out of the metaphorical closet to her when she hadn't the slightest inkling of what was going on, they had chosen to make their announcement at the anniversary party of King Sothe and Queen Micaiah._

_Edward had taken her question the wrong way, however, and had yelled at her in front of the entire Court and most of Daein's citizenry. "How dare you be judgmental of us?! We are in love, Leo and I! We don't care if you don't accept us! We thought you'd be happy!"_

_"But…But I am…"_

_"Don't lie to us, Micaiah! You're disgusted with what we've told you, aren't you? You're a homophobic bitch, and we will be glad to vacate ourselves of your presence!" With that, Edward had stormed out, Leonardo close on his heels, throwing one last look back at the shocked Queen._

_After Leonardo and Edward had come Nolan…He'd been using his position as one of the reinstated Four Riders and General of the Daein Royal Army to pass information to Begnion, the Laguz Nations, Crimea, and pretty much anyone on the continent who'd ask. He'd had the longest affiliation with Begnion, even before he was a Rider and General; he'd been the one who'd given them the location of the Dawn Brigade so many times, causing them to run themselves ragged over all of Daein trying to escape the seemingly omniscient Begnion Occupation Army. But they hadn't been all-knowing; they'd had an informant. He'd been discovered, and had confessed immediately, stating that, "I never liked being part of the Dawn Brigade, anyway. It was too hard of a living, always running around like that, following a young half-blood who didn't know what the hell she was doing half the time. If not for Sothe, we'd all be dead. I was protecting my livelihood."_

_She'd foolishly agreed with Nolan, believing that Sothe was her rock, her faithful rock. How wrong she was. He'd betrayed her as well. How could she trust anyone now?_

_It was in the midst of these miserable musings that there came a knock at her door. "Your Majesty?" a voice asked timidly; it was Ilyana. A girl. They'd never betrayed Micaiah yet. Wiping her eyes dry, Micaiah said in as steady a voice as she could manage,_

_"Yes, Ilyana. You may enter."_

_"Your Majesty," Ilyana said as she opened the powder room door to behold her Queen. She'd stayed with Micaiah and the King, along with Zihark - they'd actually gotten married, Zihark and Ilyana. They seemed to be happy, and Ilyana always gushed to Micaiah about how wonderful a husband Zihark was. It had never bothered Micaiah before now._

_Ilyana took a noticeable inhale as she witnessed the rather wretched state of Micaiah. "Your Majesty, what's wrong?" she asked, shocked. _

_"It's nothing, Ilyana," Micaiah replied, wiping her eyes on her sleeve once more. "It's just…that time of the month, you know…" Ilyana gave a nod, understanding dawning in her eyes. Micaiah hated to tell a blatantly outright lie to Ilyana's face like that, but no one could know. Especially if Sothe found out that Micaiah knew. There would be no telling what he would do. She'd never seen Sothe as particularly violent, but mayhap his behaviors had changed like his preferences in women._

_"Well, Your Highness," Ilyana said as she started to fix Micaiah's makeup, to make the sovereign lady look more like a Queen and less like a hurt, lost child. "I've received a message that Lord Ike shall make a return to Tellius."_

_"What?!" Micaiah asked, nearly falling off the stool she was sitting on. "How did you come to possess this information?"_

_"Ranulf of Gallia told me, just before he left again, back to accompany Ike across the border. The Savior of Tellius is finally returning." The smile on Ilyana's face was too pure to be faked. It was obvious she still cared deeply for the Vanguard, although it didn't hold a candle to her love for Zihark. Micaiah couldn't blame her. Ike was…truly, he was something else. He was strong, ruthless when he had to be, confident, decisive, intense…And he didn't care that Micaiah was a Branded. He'd treated her just the same as he treated anyone else who he'd felt earned his respect: like his equal. _

_Micaiah frowned. Apparently, she'd missed the blue-haired mercenary more than she'd previously thought. "When will Lord Ike arrive?" she asked._

_"In two weeks' time, Your Majesty," Ilyana replied as she artfully placed the last bit of powder on Micaiah's face, brightening the Queen's eyes, virtually erasing all signs of her recent crying jag. "There, now that we've got you all beautified once more," Ilyana said, smiling at Micaiah and giving her a hug. Eventually (and much too soon for Micaiah; she needed comfort badly, so very badly), Ilyana pulled away and smiled once more. "That was all I needed to tell you, my Queen. By your leave." Micaiah nodded, and Ilyana curtsied before she retreated, leaving Micaiah alone in her powder room once more. _

_'Hm…Ike…'_

He'd been on her mind since, the enigmatic, strong, captivating mercenary commander. Her fingers tapped against her chin as she thought. Sothe had proven himself an untrustworthy harlot-magnet, Nolan had betrayed her trust and placed the lives of thousands (and the hopes of those thousands)at risk because he didn't like sleeping in rundown buildings, and Edward and Leonardo had left simply because Micaiah had said one word to them.

Mayhap Ike would be the one that she could trust…?

She could trust him with her heritage, that much she knew. She already had. But could she trust him with her bleeding heart? That remained to be seen.

It had been two weeks since Ilyana had given her message. Ike was arriving today, and Daein would be his first stop on his travel through Tellius, every nation of which would undoubtedly rejoice to learn that their departed hero had returned once more.

The doors opened, and Micaiah was torn out of her thoughts, gasping involuntarily, albeit softly. There he was.

He'd gotten even broader and more muscular than she'd remembered, and he didn't dwarf Micaiah like he'd used to; she would now come to about his chin. His blue hair was just as unruly as ever, and he now had a cover of blue whiskers across his jaw; and his eyes…they pierced Micaiah's very soul. He walked with a powerful gait, as though he knew he were far more powerful than any other fighter on the continent. And very well he was. His was the gait of a predator, one who knew what he wanted and knew what he had to do to get it…and was willing to do whatever it took and more to get what he wanted.

She knew his gaze had always been that intense, but never had she found it so…alluring? She felt like she was seeing him for the first time. Everything about the man was drop. Dead. Gorgeous!! The decisive click of his steel-toed boots traveling in long strides across the floor, his hair that hung over his headband in front of his face. The way his muscles rippled and flexed under his sleeveless shirt as he moved methodically, confidently…almost seductively, had Micaiah been willing to believe that this man whom she'd disliked so much could look this good.

He stopped in front of her throne and knelt. When he spoke, it sent shivers down her spine.

"Greetings, Your Majesty." His voice was deeper than it had been, more forceful. It made Micaiah want to blush, and took a large amount of her self-control not to do so.

"…Greetings, and welcome, Hero of Tellius. Tell me, how went your adventures?"

"Adventurous." He raised his head and grinned, capturing Micaiah's eyes in that deep gaze. She was falling quickly in…affection? Lust? Whatever it was that was emanating from this man was compelling her, making her fall, and fall fast.

She smiled the smallest bit, then said, "Would you care to divulge in us any details of your adventures?"

Ike stood then, and it was unsettling just how **big** a man he was. Standing straight up, his head was nearly on level with Micaiah's, though she was sitting three steps above him. He could easily overpower anyone he chose to.

"I do indeed have details, Queen," Ike replied, before sending a look to Soren and Ranulf, who had accompanied him. Micaiah followed his gaze and smiled at the Cat Laguz and the Arch Sage, the former of whom gave a rather dapper bow, the latter of whom merely inclined his head. "However," Ike continued, and, just like that, Micaiah's attention was riveted back to this man who'd inserted himself into her life so suddenly…again. "Those details are…confidential." His voice lowered, and it was all Micaiah could do not to shudder. She hid her eyes, rolling back into her head, by closing her eyelids as though she were taking a very long blink.

Mayahp Ike had noticed, mayhap he hadn't. He gave no indication as to either. Soren and Ranult left, and Micaiah said, "I would that you leave us, please. You need not worry with the Savior of Tellius here to guard me from himself." She was focused on the servants who stood along one side of the throne room, and as such, she missed Ike's eyes darkening at the hidden connotations of her seemingly innocent statement. The servants nodded and bowed, and filed out one by one.

The door shut behind the last of them with a rather decisive thud. Micaiah turned her attention to Ike, whose eyes had returned to their normal shade of sapphire. "Well, what are these confidential details?" Micaiah asked, all formality dropped like her aloof, refined façade.

"Well…" Ike said, as he started to pace. He reminded Micaiah of a caged panther, the way he walked. He didn't take steps, he simply advanced his prowling stance forward, before turning around and advancing the other way. "During my adventurous adventures, I came to a rather…abrupt realization." Here, he stopped, and fixed Micaiah with a look so intense and brooding that she had to work to keep breathing normally.

"What…what realization was that?" she asked, almost as though she were afraid to know the answer.

"I came to the realization that…well, that I missed you." Micaiah could not have been more shocked had Ike said he had realized that he wanted to dance ballet professionally.

"You do…I mean, you did?" Micaiah asked, and Ike looked at her before nodding slowly.

"It's odd, Your Majesty. I hadn't really thought about you that much since the war. No offense meant." Micaiah couldn't very well take offense at that; she'd been the same way until two weeks ago. "And it didn't really bother me that I didn't have anyone I could call my own. I mean, I've always enjoyed being a single man, in charge of myself and no one else. I…I never really felt like I was **ready** to take command of the Greil Mercenaries." This also shocked Micaiah.

"But you did such a phenomenal job! They actually do jobs for us regularly. You're all they can talk about. Especially your sister, though I'm sure you've kept correspondence with her. Titania couldn't help but compare her leadership to yours, and Oscar became the new staff officer, since you took Soren with you. He and Titania are the strategists, and they oversee the Greil Mercenaries."

"They…they've kept his name after all this time…"

"Yes. They actually had a bit of controversy over whether or not to rename themselves the Ikan Mercenaries, in honor of you. They eventually decided to keep Greil's name, since it would be easier to maintain their reputation as mercenaries who are 'not your average mercenaries'." Ike smiled at Micaiah's quoting of who would no doubt be Titania. She knew better than anyone just what kind of reputation Ike's father had built for himself and his mercenaries.

"That's…interesting. But please, allow me to continue with my story," Ike said, and Micaiah nodded. Ike nodded in return, and started stalking back and forth again. "I've always enjoyed being single. I never wanted to live any other way. But then…" he trailed off, clearing his throat. Micaiah had never seen the Vanguard so flustered. "Then, I was invited to a wedding." Micaiah was burning to ask whose wedding, but she felt that Ike was in no condition to answer additional questions at present. "I agreed to go, said I'd be honored. The groom…he asked me to be his best man." Here, Ike sent an agitated glance at Micaiah, and the silver-haired maiden had the oddest, yet nearly uncontrollable urge to hug this wall of a man, to comfort him and try to make that agitation go away.

"I agreed to that as well; he and I had become rather close, and I was loathe to deny him any request he made of me. So I attended their wedding, not really knowing what to expect.

"…It was beautiful. To see the looks of happiness and love in the wedded couple's eyes as they looked at each other as the bishop went through the intonations. It made me ache in a way I never had before. I wanted that happiness. Soren and Ranulf were always content that it was just the three of us. But I wanted…something more. I wanted happiness like that newlywed couple.

"So my search began. Once word got out that I was looking for someone, people, man and woman alike, flocked to wherever I happened to be. They'd throw themselves at me, proclaim their eternal love for me. I quickly ascertained that I'm not gay, needless to say." Micaiah giggled in spite of herself, and Ike's face relaxed. She decided she liked him not quite so tense. "Anyway, after I'd narrowed it down to strictly females, it got a little…vicious. And competitive." Micaiah felt an odd twinge of jealousy at this remark; she didn't want women fighting over what could never be theirs. 'What? Where did that come from?' she thought as Ike continued.

"I realized that I wanted someone special. Someone unique, like me. Someone similar to me, who'd shared some of the same experiences I had, someone I could relate to. And guess who came to my mind once I'd set that criteria?" At this point, Ike flashed a smile at Micaiah that made her want to melt. Yet, he barely seemed to notice, as he was so determined to get this out.

"It was you, Micaiah. You alone had risen from who-knows-where to become a general of a country's liberation army. You allied yourself with the Laguz…eventually. You were a commander. You were different. Special. Unique. Just like me." He stopped talking again, and this time he stopped stalking as well, and knelt in front of the Queen, who hadn't moved at all during this exchange.

"Micaiah…I…" he paused, as though he were unsure of how to proceed. Micaiah watched his throat as he swallowed, unwillingly (or mayhap willingly, only she could tell)following the movement of his Adam's apple as it moved up and down slowly. "I…want you to be my someone special. I want you to be the one to make me truly happy." Micaiah gasped and shot up out of her throne, causing Ike to back away, alarmed. At his frightened reaction, Micaiah formed a bit of an idea...a bit of a test.

"Ike…" Micaiah said in what she hoped was a sultry voice. It had its desired effect. Micaiah smiled at Ike, who had gone stock still. She decided she would take this a bit farther, see where it went. She walked over to him, swaying her hips, delighting in how Ike's blue eyes instantly fixated on them. Yes, this could be interesting, indeed…

Ike watched as Micaiah moved sensuously toward him, backing up involuntarily. It scared him, how powerfully he'd been hit with a desire to kiss this woman. 'That isn't all you want to do…' a voice told him in a mocking sort of voice, but Ike ignored it. Micaiah had moved closer. He noticed that she had gotten a lot taller; he now had only a head over her, as opposed to his entire torso.

She laid a hand palm-flat on his chest, and his resolve set itself. His hands cupped her face of their own accord, and he placed his mouth over hers.

Micaiah opened her mouth as Ike's face moved closer, intending to gasp, mayhap to push herself away. But before she could, his lips touched hers, and she was gone. His mouth moved softly across hers, hesitant yet still so tempting. He tasted like mint, and he smelled clean, and like leather. His scent overwhelmed her senses, and it took a second for her brain to kick back into action, but it did finally, and she found her arms wrapping themselves around his shoulders. Ike responded by moving his hands from her face to her back, threading his calloused fingers through her silver hair.

Micaiah's hands did the same with Ike's hair, undoing his headband and allowing his hair to fall across his forehead and down the sides of his face, where Micaiah's fingers could work through his thick tresses. She pressed closer to him, wanting him to take the hint. He did, to her happiness, and crushed her to him as their kiss deepened.

She wanted so badly to lose herself in this for time without end, in this man that she felt was the only one who hadn't betrayed her in some way. But, the need for oxygen eventually demanded that they separate. They did so slowly, breaths mingling in the air. Ike's eyes were lidded, two shades deeper than they had been. Micaiah's eyes, in contrast, shone so brightly it was hard to look her straight in the eye without wanting to flinch. Ike managed it, however, and his fogged brain slowly cleared as he realized Micaiah had moved away from him. His arms moved of their own accord, trying to pull her back to him, but he stopped himself and watched as Micaiah picked up his headband from where it had fallen on the floor.

She grabbed it and held it out to him. He took it, one end in each hand, and made to tie it back around his head, but stopped when Micaiah held her arm out. He raised an eyebrow, and Micaiah said, "I want to wear that."

"You do?"

She nodded. She couldn't fathom why she wanted to wear Ike's headband around her arm, but her heart had taken over her mind, and she couldn't summon the wherewithal to question it.

Ike said, "Okay…", and tied his headband to Micaiah's upper arm, gently tying the knot tight enough so that it wouldn't slip. He cupped her face again, running a thumb along one of her cheeks. She closed her eyes and turned her face into his palm, and Ike hugged her close, nuzzling her in the joint where her neck met her shoulder. She could feel his shadowed beard as he did so, and shivered.

They eventually pulled apart, and Ike said, "I think I've made the right choice."

"You do?" she asked, pleased, as another voice cut in,

"You do? For what?" Ike and Micaiah jumped apart, startled by the clearly masculine voice that was currently dripping with suspicion.

They both turned to see King Sothe striding toward where they stood, emerald eyes blazing. In this heat, Micaiah was reminded of why she had been attracted to him in the first place. He held such a fire, such a zest for life…But he didn't feel the need to show that side of himself to her any more, and that quashed any attraction Micaiah felt.

Sothe was tall, but Micaiah came up to his nose nevertheless. "What is going on here? What were you doing with my wife?"

Ike raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "So, not going to talk, eh?" Sothe said, snorting. "Be that way. I shall assume the worst: That you have raped the Queen of Daein! Guards!" Ike's eyes widened, and Micaiah's flared. She stepped forward, hair flying out behind her as she did so.

"Be gone!" she said in a commanding voice to the guards, who froze in indecision.

"Don't listen to her," Sothe mandated. "I am your King."

"You would do well to remember who **made** you King, **Your Majesty**," Micaiah replied, and Sothe fixed her with a poisonous look, one that she returned fully. Things were finally coming to a head. Their relationship had been extremely strained of late, and Sothe hadn't been able to figure out why. He'd made sure to dote on her, given her all that she'd asked for, no matter how trivial. 'She didn't find out about…No, she couldn't have,' Sothe thought, and laid that worry to rest.

"Fine," he said. "Stand down, and fall out." The guards looked at one another, confused, but complied, and left the two monarchs and the Vanguard alone once more in the throne room. "So, Micaiah, would you care to tell me what you were doing with Ike?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business, **Your Majesty**." The way she said "Your Majesty" made it sound like an insult, and even Ike flinched at the venom that infused her tone whenever she used the term. "What I do is none of your concern. This I know."

'You do?' Ike thought. 'How?' As he thought this, Sothe got an ugly look on his face and changed his tactics to target Ike. "Well then, Mister Savior and Hero of Tellius, I'll ask you, since my wife is apparently uncooperative. What were you doing with my wife?"

"Oh, please, Sothe, it isn't as if I'm some helpless girl who can't look after herself," Micaiah cut in, but Ike shook his head. He leveled a glare at Sothe that made the King want to flinch. Yet he remained steady as Ike approached.

"You want to know the truth, Sothe? Fine. I love Micaiah."

"You do?!" Sothe nearly yelled.

"You do?" Micaiah asked in a much softer tone.

"I do indeed," Ike said. "Which is more than can be said for you, Sothe."

"What are you talking about?" Sothe shot back, instantly haughty. "I love Micaiah dearly, with all my heart. I have been nothing but a model husband and lover to her." He smirked as Ike growled at his use of the term "lover". "I am deeply in love with Micaiah, and --"

"I beg to differ," Ike interrupted.

"Oh, you do?" Sothe asked coolly, a challenge evident in his voice.

"Yes," Ike replied forcefully. "If you loved Micaiah half as much as you proclaim, you wouldn't attempt to belittle her authority in front of her guards. You would support her, not try to break her down to save face."

"Oh, and you would do that?"

"I would, if she'd let me." At this, Ike turned to Micaiah, and instead of the defiant look she'd expected, she saw despair and uncertainty in his eyes. His eyes burned her in their needy gaze. "Please," it said. "Please." That was all, and that was all Micaiah needed.

She turned to Sothe and said, "I would let him do just that." Sothe looked gob smacked, while Ike looked extremely happy. To know that she was the cause of such happiness on his part…It made Micaiah smile as well. She couldn't help it.

"You're a fool," Sothe said, and Micaiah's smile vanished, as did Ike's look of happiness. In seconds, he'd backed Sothe up against a wall, holding him their with one hand and covering his mouth with the other.

"Don't insult her," Ike snarled in Sothe's face, his blazing eyes inches away from Sothe's fearful ones. No matter whether Sothe was King of Daein or Ruler of all of Tellius, Ike was still stronger than he was. He would do well not to forget that. Sothe nodded, and Ike released him, watching with stone like features as Sothe regained his composure.

"Fine," Sothe said. "Have it your way. For your betrayal of us, we banish you from Daein." His triumphant grin was knocked off his face as Micaiah slapped him hard enough to make him twirl before falling to the ground rather ungracefully.

"I don't need Daein to make me happy," Micaiah hissed. "You won't hold your country over my head any more. Have fun ruling…with Lady Fizzart." She grinned as Sothe's face paled. "Oh yes, I know all about your little affair. I actually saw you. In our bedchamber. Bedding that whore. Well. You can have her. Just be prepared to fight her husband, the Dragonmaster." With that, she turned her back on Sothe and her country, though it was her country no longer.

Ike's eyes sparkled as he looked at her as she walked back over to him and wrapped her arms around his torso, fingers playing in his hair again. He let out a contented sigh, and glared at Sothe. "How you could be willing to give someone as priceless as Micaiah up, I will never guess." That was all he said, before he took Micaiah's hands and led her out of the throne room.

-Fin-

**A/N II: **Well, what do you think? :D;; Remember, no flames, please. I can be quite pleasant, but I won't be if you aren't.

**Review responses:  
**Even though this isn't a oneshot anymore, I'm still keeping these, and will just modify the chapters to include whatever reviews I get on separate chapters.

**TheSilverandGoldDragons - **I'm glad you like my writing style. I've always been a fan of it myself. :P I'm also happy that you saw Ike the way I wanted to portray him. Dude is HAWT. Sothe is indeed a bastard, Edward is just overexcitable, and Nolan...I'm rather surprised at myself for thinking up Nolan's betrayal. He definitely wouldn't be one of the first people I'd pick out of a crowd to betray Micaiah and the Dawn Brigade...and the nation of Daein... Anyway, I was making myself smile the entire time I wrote this, and I'm glad it made you smile, too. :)  
**Little Liger - **I'm glad you liked it. :) I really am. As to continuing the oneshots...Well, I'm currently in the throes of writer's block, but, if it lets up, will be the first to know. :P  
**Han-Ko - **Thank you very much. I'm glad you think so.  
**ElaiaFlameWolf - **You're in awe? That's...well. That makes me glow like a megawatt lightbulb, actually. :D You have a sequel already, and I'd like to finish it up, but, as I said to LiLi, writer's block has me in its clutches, and I literally can't write a story without asphyxiating. So. Oh, also, if you'd like, I can look over your things for grammar mistakes. If you'd like. I have the time.  
**MangaMan3000 - **And here I thought your review was going to be one of the shortest ones. But no, it turned out to be the longest I've gotten on this oneshot so far. :P That's all right, it gives me more to talk about. XD I've always been a very descriptive person, and, sometimes, my fingers can't quite convey what my mind is conjuring. This wasn't one of those times. :D I'm also very character-oriented, and try to include lots of dialogue when I can. I find it gives more depth to the characters, and, personally, I love me some character development. Like hardcore. As to killing Sothe...Well. Have at it. Haar will call you and let you know when he's finished. :D And as for knowing the stuff about my stories, if you look at my profile page, I have all that information there for every story I've yet posted. Genre, relationships, setting, domain (what the fanfic is based on), rating, a summary...It's all there. I'm extremely glad you liked my oneshot enough to give it a lengthier review. Really, I'm immensely grateful. :))  
**Malistroph - **One of the best? You flatter me beyond what I deserve. :D Which man are you talking about, though? If you can let me know which man you're referring to, mayhap I can clear that up. And if Haar had shown up...? Oh, things would have gotten very ugly had he shown up when Micaiah revealed that she knew. They would've gotten very ugly, very quickly. I don't know how well a Whisper-turned-King would stand up against a Dragonmaster. I'm glad you liked it, though. It's always nice to know I didn't botch things up too badly.  
**Ethereally - **Firstly, thank you for reviewing. Now then. This fanfiction was in no way meant to bash the Dawn Brigade. I am a huge Dawn Brigade fan and, were this a story that followed the canon, I would never ever have Sothe, Nolan, Edward, and Leonardo do what they did. However, because this is a fanship-centric fanfiction, changes had to be made. I am perfectly aware that I threw away the Dawn Brigade's friendship so that Ike/Micaiah could actually work. It would never work otherwise, not following the canon. I know what changes I made, and I made them intentionally. I'm sorry if that offends you, but Ike/Micaiah would never work otherwise. I'm too much of a fan of the game to change it around any other way. Besides, what happened isn't permanent, at least, not between Edward, Leonardo, and Micaiah. (Oops, that was a spoiler.) Anyway, Micaiah is not homophobic; Edward misconstrued her shock in reaction to his rather unfortunate timing to be that way. She isn't a homophobe, I promise. I refuse to write homophobic characters, unless it was to get a point across, but since there is no such point to be made, Micaiah isn't homophobic. I'm sorry you don't seem to like my fanfiction, but I do hope you'll read the rest of it once I get around to writing it. I'll make things better between the members of the Dawn Brigade; I promise. I'm not that cruel. But I do thank you for reviewing nevertheless, even if it was a negative sort of review. I will work on my characterization, and I'd like to thank you for being as civil about your bone to pick with my fanfiction. :]

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	2. I Do

**A/N:** Well, looks like I lied. I figured it'd be easier to just make this a multi-chaptered fanfiction, so it is. No separate oneshots or anything, because that's just too much hassle.

Anyway, that's really all I wanted to talk about. So, here's Chapter Two of In Which Ike and Micaiah Finally Get Together.

**Disclaimer: The fun about this sentence is that you don't realize it doesn't say anything until you've finished reading it. Also, I don't own Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance or Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Both belong to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.**

"This" - indicates dialogue.  
'This' - indicates thought.  
**This **- indicates emphasis, in place of CAPSLOCK.

**Chapter 2 - I Do.**

Micaiah had been content to let Ike drag her along, but now her arm was starting to ache, so she dug her heels in and made him stop. It was rather comical, actually, to see such a large man nearly have his feet fly out in front of him and land on his rear. "I don't think I should be that impressed with your attempt to sweep me off my feet and take me out of here," she said.

Ike turned to look at her, a blue eyebrow quirked in a way that made Micaiah blush. Ike smirked, deep blue eyes studying the silver-haired girl as he remained silent. Finally, he said, "I didn't know you wanted me to sweep you off your feet." Suddenly, he ducked and placed one arm behind Micaiah's knees, and lifted, effectively carrying her bridal-style. "Do you think you should be impressed now?" he asked, a smug look on his face.

Micaiah gasped as he started walking, laughing as she said, "I do…I guess." She quieted down as Ike continued walking through the palace. She saw some of her handmaidens watching the huge Vanguard carrying their ex-Queen (not that they knew that she was their ex-Queen at the moment)with wide eyes, whispering behind their hands. She sighed. "They're going to talk about us," she said, a bit sadly.

Ike looked down at her, eyes just as mesmerizing as ever. He bent his head enough to brush her lips with his own, and grinned at her, his eyes half-lidded as he continued walking. Micaiah's eyes were the same, and they were shining again. Ike groaned, though he was trying to hold it back. "I don't think that should matter. They won't be saying anything we don't already know. Besides, it isn't any of your concern any longer, is it?"

"No, but…"

"But what?" Ike asked in that deep voice, grinning as Micaiah became flustered. She recovered herself quickly, and pounded her fists on his chest, trying to ignore the fact that she was in fact pounding on his chest.

"Let me down, Ike!" Ike sighed melodramatically, but did as she requested. As he did so, his eyes alighted on his headband, which was still tied securely around Micaiah's upper arm. He smiled, but Micaiah didn't notice, as she was already headed out of the doors, nearly walking right into Ranulf, who was standing just outside. Soren was nowhere to be found.

"Whoa, whoa, Lady Micaiah," Ranulf said, smiling. "I know you can't resist my animal magnetism and all, but…" he didn't get any farther, as Ike suddenly appeared behind Micaiah and glared at the Cat Laguz. Ranulf happened to catch Ike's glare, and actually backed up at the raw anger and possessiveness he saw there.

Micaiah looked confused for a second, then hunched, as though she could sense Ike behind her. Mayhap she could, or mayhap she had seen the massive shadow he cast along the ground as he stood behind her. His presence was overbearing, though, since most of the time he was fairly laid-back and easygoing, it wasn't unsettling. But now, Micaiah was past unsettled, going on slightly frightened. Micaiah turned around and saw Ike's face. His jaw was clenched, his nostrils were flared slightly, his eyebrows were one thick, blue line, and his eyes…Normally so entrancing, they now looked forbidding. It made Micaiah seriously scared…for Ranulf more than anything, since the Cat was the one who was the target of Ike's blazing gaze.

"Ike, it was a joke," Ranulf said with his hands in the air in a placating sort of gesture, but Ike didn't seem to buy it. He took one menacing step forward, and Ranulf bolted, shifting into his animal form as he went. It happened so quickly Micaiah barely had time to register it before Ranulf was already yards away, and Ike took another step. She placed a hand on his arm firmly, and his head snapped around to look at her.

"You belong to me," Ike said in a dark voice. Micaiah narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips.

"Oh, I do?" Mayhap it was her tone, mayhap it was her slightly hurt yet mostly angry expression, or mayhap it was just that she was the one talking, but Ike's eyes softened, his jaw unclenched, and his face relaxed, only to contort itself again, this time in confusion.

"You do what, Micaiah?" Micaiah threw her hands up in the air and let out an angry breath.

"Let me tell you something, Vanguard," she said fiercely. "I didn't give us a chance for you to turn all stupidly possessive over a joke. That was Ranulf, Ike. **Ranulf**. He always jokes like that. But you scared him so badly, he took off! What the hell is your issue?!"

Ike flinched, and looked at Micaiah with eyes full of confusion and hurt. "Micaiah, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, yes, you do!"

"I do?"

"Don't play stupid with me, Ike!" Micaiah yelled, turning her face up to look into his. Then, she stopped. Ike really didn't know what she was talking about. "You…you really don't know?" she asked, bewildered. Ike shook his head slowly before he started to walk away. "Ike, where are you going?" Micaiah asked, walking to catch up to him.

"Well, I obviously did something wrong, and, judging by the way you just yelled at me, you don't want me around like I thought you did," Ike replied, and his tone made Micaiah want to sob. He really was hurt, and he really didn't have the slightest idea what had just happened. Which was exceedingly odd. "So, I'm sorry for apparently wasting your time. You can just go back to -" Ike would've continued, but Micaiah had grabbed both sides of his face and yanked his head down so that she could kiss him.

Ike quickly decided he liked Micaiah when she was aggressive. When she finally released his head, Ike had to work to start breathing normally again. "Ike," Micaiah said. "You need to see a doctor."

"I do? But why?"

Micaiah sighed and started to walk again, but she kept Ike's hand in hers as she did so. "Ike…I walked out of the castle, and into Ranulf. He made a joke about his 'animal magnetism', and you nearly flipped. You looked like you were going to kill him. You don't remember? It just happened five minutes ago." Ike shook his head again, and Micaiah bit her bottom lip.

"I honestly don't remember anything like that. The last thing I remember is you asking me to put you down, and then you were yelling at me," Ike said, rubbing his head in an oddly endearing gesture. It made Micaiah want to rake her fingers through his hair…so she did. Ike let out a sigh as she did so, and Micaiah smiled. "I'm sorry," he said, and Micaiah shook her head.

"There's no use apologizing for something you weren't even aware you did wrong," she said, and, keeping his hand in hers, led him from the castle grounds toward the rest of the city, particularly the hospital.

As they walked, Ike kept running the pad of his thumb over the knuckles of Micaiah's hand, so much smaller than his own. They were opposite in almost every way. Where his were tan, hers were fair. Where his were broad, hers were narrow. Where his were calloused, hers were smooth. His hands were the hands of a warrior; her hands were the hands of a queen.

They eventually got to the hospital, and Micaiah closed her eyes as there was a collective intake of breath when Ike entered the room. "I forgot that there aren't any male doctors here; they're all in the military, training," she muttered as a large group of females, few of them interns, moved forward in a mass of teeming hormones.

"How may we help you?" one doctor said, rather shamelessly eyeing the Vanguard.

"Well," Micaiah said, stepping in front of him, as though to fend off the women. "My…" she trailed off to look at Ike, who looked down and shrugged slightly. "My friend here has a bit of a problem," she said finally, and immediately wished she hadn't. Her remark had sent the entire group of them into giggles and rushed whispers.

"Um…" one of them said as they continued giggling. Micaiah sighed, and Ike quirked an eyebrow. "I'd be more than willing to perform…a physical…" Micaiah facepalmed, while Ike's other eyebrow went up, and he actually blushed. "Oh, there's no need to be embarrassed!" the doctor said. "It happens to the best of them, love!"

Ike's blush deepened, and he cleared his throat before saying, "My problem isn't…that." As he talked, every female in the room swooned. Micaiah let out an exasperated sigh before turning around and yanking Ike's head down, planting another of her aggressive kisses that Ike liked so much on his mouth, while the doctor all let out scandalized cries.

Micaiah broke away and turned back around to face the group of doctors, a number of whom had left dejectedly upon seeing Micaiah kiss Ike. Micaiah glared at those who remained and reached behind her and cupped Ike **hard**. He actually groaned and leaned forward slightly, hair hanging in eyes that had turned dark with lust. "That isn't his problem," Micaiah said, giving Ike a tug. Ike flung a hand out and braced himself on a wall, groaning again.

"Micaiah…" he moaned in her ear, his voice tinged with desire, and Micaiah seemed to come to herself, and released her grip on Ike, blushing furiously. Ignoring Ike's light panting as best she could, Micaiah said in a voice that was hoarse due to her suddenly rather dry throat,

"His problem isn't…" she gestured lamely at his "area". The women who'd remained and got quite an eyeful of just what Ike's problem **wasn't** simply nodded.

"What the hell is going on out here?" a voice called out authoritatively, and both Ike and Micaiah started in recognition. They watched as a lithe woman dressed in a purple robe and her long blonde hair tied back made her way through the still-large group of ladies who were clamoring for a look at Ike's…not-the-problem.

"Heather?" Micaiah asked, a grin starting to form on her face. The former Whisper's eyes locked onto Micaiah's, and she gasped.

"Micaiah! Ike! It's so good to see you!" 'Doubly good, since you're a lesbian,' Micaiah thought, hiding the smug look on her face as Heather led them into her office. "Now," she said as she sat down behind her desk to survey the two of them. "What seems to be the issue?"

"Micaiah says I became deadly possessive of her when Ranulf made some joke about his 'animal magnetism'," Ike said immediately.

"Well, Ike," Heather said with a smile, "that isn't a problem -"

"But I don't remember that at all," Ike interrupted, wiping the smile off of Heather's face. "And therein lies my problem." Heather frowned, studying Ike closely. She stood up and walked around her desk to place a palm against Ike's forehead, pushing his hair back as she did so.

"Well, Ike," Heather said after a while. "I can't imagine where you'd get such highly selective amnesia from…" she trailed off as she began to rummage around for something. She eventually pulled out a simple golden staff with a red bulb on it. She held it to Ike's head, and started to chant. The red gem glowed, and its light washed around Ike's head, and when she removed the staff, Ike didn't look much different.

"I don't know what the issue is, Ike," Heather said as she put the Mend staff away. "So I'm not sure if that fixed the issue. What you need to do, Ike, is find Rhys."

"I do?" Ike asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Yes, you do," Heather replied. "He isn't the most prolific Saint in Tellius for nothing. If he can't heal you, then the answer to your affliction lies somewhere outside of Tellius." Ike nodded and stood, and Micaiah followed suit.

"Thanks, Heather," Ike said as he walked out of the door. Micaiah decided to stay behind to talk a bit with the Whisper-turned-Doctor.

"So, Heather, how in the name of Yune did you manage to become a Doctor?" she asked in a friendly voice.

"Well," Heather replied with a sly smile. "Being a Whisper includes being an assassin. To be an effective assassin, one must know the human body like the back of his or her hand. It wasn't hard to switch my knowledge from killing to healing." Micaiah nodded in understanding, and Heather said, "Now it's my turn to ask a question. Ike? You caught yourself **Ike, **of all people?"

Micaiah smiled. "He…he came back to Tellius for me."

"I figured that must be it," Heather replied. "Last I'd heard, he'd left with the Cat and his clingy Arch Sage for 'lands unknown', or some such thing."

"That's what I thought," Micaiah responded. "In fact, today is his first day back. And…he came back because…he said that he came back because he missed me." Heather smiled a genuine smile, and it was then that she noticed the headband tied around Micaiah's upper arm.

"Is that Ike's headband?" she asked in a thrilled voice, and Micaiah nodded sheepishly. Now that she was actually talking with someone who she knew wouldn't give her any competition for Ike, she suddenly found it embarrassing and extremely pleasing at the same time, to realize that she had captured the heart of the Savior and Hero of Tellius, and without even realizing it, had given him her own heart. "Hon," was all Heather said, unable to keep the smile off her face. "No wonder his hair was even more unruly than usual. It makes you want to run your fingers through it, doesn't it?" she asked, waggling her eyebrows suggestively. The absurdity of the expression mixed with Heather's face sent Micaiah into a silent fit of giggles.

When she'd regained her composure, she said, "Yes, this is his headband. I asked him to let me wear it."

"Oh, hon, you've got it **bad** for that man, don't you?" Heather asked, an infectious grin in her tone and in her expression.

Micaiah blushed, and said quietly, "I do."

Heather just smiled knowingly. "Well, Micaiah, I'd suggest that you get out there and defend your man! You just sent that huge hunk of male into a pool full of woman." Micaiah's eyes narrowed, and her hair flared around her as she spun around and stormed out of the office, Heather shaking her head in an amused fashion as she did so.

Micaiah burst into the lobby of the hospital to find Ike backed up against a wall, trying to contain the urge to unsheathe his sword. Micaiah followed his hand to his hip, and her eyes widened as she recognized Ragnell's sheath. And on his other hip, barely visible, was Alondite's sheath. She hadn't realized he'd kept both swords this entire time.

She began elbowing her way through to get to Ike, whose hand was slipping closer and closer to Ragnell…Micaiah managed to lay her hand on Ike's just as it got to Ragnell's hilt, and he relaxed immediately when he realized it was Micaiah. A peaceful smile made its way across his face, and Micaiah could only smile back as she kissed his cheek. "Come on, Ike, we've got to get out of here and go find Rhys so we can see what's up with you." And, similar to earlier that same day, someone was being led out of a building full of idiots. Except this time, Micaiah was the one doing the leading, and Ike the following.

As they walked out, one doctor found her courage and slapped Ike's butt. Ike started forward, bumping into Micaiah, who turned around to whispers about something that was "harder than steel". Her eyes flared, and she recited a short chant. Immediately after she'd finished, all the women in the lobby fell asleep where they stood. Micaiah smirked. "I knew asking Rafiel to teach me a few basic galdrar wasn't a bad idea," she said, and she and Ike continued walking.

-Fin-

**A/N II:** Well, there you have it. Part II of...however many oneshots this will take to get my idea all the way out. It won't be anything hugely epic, just...mayhap a bit of a travel around Tellius. And wherever did Soren disappear to? And Ranulf, for that matter? Will we ever find out? Well, since I'm writing the thing, I'm gonna go ahead and answer that myself: OF COURSE WE WILL. Anyway, read and review, please. :D Let me know what you thought of the fierce!lioness!Micaiah and sexychickmagnet!lioncub!Ike. I seriously debated letting Ike get a hold of Ragnell and...forcibly giving himself some breathing space. Those doctors don't know how lucky they are. Again, read and review. But don't leave any flames. I don't like those, and I'll throw flames right back. And no one likes drama. So just leave something nice, or, if you have an issue, just state it, and I'll do my best to remember it for the next part I write.

**Review responses:  
**I'm keeping these here, just because without these here, I'd have no record of half the reviews I've gotten on this story so far.

**Little Liger - **The suggestiveness was supposed to be part of what made it funny. Trust me, you weren't the only one giggling like a fool throughout the entire thing. And hey, did you see that I brought Heather into it? :D! YAY HEATHER. She'sanimpliedlesbiansoIheartherverymuch... Hopefully, when my writer's block decides to let me go (for that time period, anyway; writer's block is a lot like herpes like that), we'll see what Rhys can do about Ike's issue. I'm glad you liked it so much, though. I honestly wasn't intending it to get as serious as it did. Whatever IS the matter with Ike? =\  
**TheSilverandGoldDragons - **So, we have one fan of lioness!Micaiah...yay! That makes two! (You get three guesses who the other one is. :P) I'm a fan of humor, and I decided that, in the midst of all this srs business (like in teh intarwebz), I'd stick a little humor in there. I only did it for the lulz! Ike's problem will get figured out...as soon as I figure out what it is...and, again, like I told LiLi (which is my nickname for Little Liger because it's faster to type and time is money), when my writer's block goes away (which it inevitably will, sooner or later), we'll figure out just what Ike's little issue is. And thanks for pointing out that error. It's been fixed. I love more Ike/Micaiah stories, too! And the fact that I'm one of the contributing authors...it makes me go super!:D. .../:D/ -- (the / are the arms.)  
**It doesn't matter - **I'm glad you liked both oneshots. I had just as much fun imagining the scene with Ike and the Amorous Doctors, believe me. I intend to write a third part, and a fourth part, and mayhap even a fifth part. I have a vague outline, but if I try to develop it too much further, my brain clamps shut like a bear trap and I'm stuck gasping for air until I can do something else. So we'll see. ...And, what's funny is that I was actually intending to name the next part something like that. But, now that you've said that, I don't think I will. :P I'm sure I can think of something else...when I write the story. I tend not to title my stories/chapters until AFTER I finish writing them...It's always easier to find the theme of a finished story than it is to write a title and base a whole story off of it.  
**jojobevco - **Thanks. :) I would've kicked Sothe out the door as well, but Daein needed someone to rule it, and, since Micaiah abdicated the throne and left with Ike, Daein would be without a regent, since Ike has never been one for being royalty/nobility. So, Sothe had to stay. Mayhap Micaiah can change Ike's mind about being a noble/monarch. In the interim, Sothe remains on the throne.  
**MangaMan3000 - **O. M. G. Just omg. Another novel review...o.o;; JUST KIDDING I love it so good. :D Anyway, I'm glad you liked it so much. I have always been extremely focused on imagery when it suited me, and this happened to be one of the times it suited me. XD I like to paint a picture as I write, and I've been told I'm not too bad at it. It's nice to know they weren't lying. Your investigation will have to continue at the same pace mine does, because I'm not giving anything away until then. XDXDXD But please, by all means, try. You're clever; you'll probably figure it out long before I actually get to it. The hospital scene made me rofl as I was writing it. And your dirty thought is entirely accurate. I think they'll stay in Tellius for a while, but one never can tell with Tellians. Your questions, in order: I can't tell you that; Yes; You'll find out; Yes, they will...eventually; Haar will try, but he'll face complications; Mayhap he will, mayhap he won't; Yes, they will; I certainly won't. I believe that covers everything. If I've left something out, please tell me and I'll answer to the best of my ability. And I would be more than happy to read Dawn's Sonata and tell you my opinions. I'm sure they won't be anything but glowing, but I will tell you them nonetheless once I read it. :)  
**Piggachew - **Ike/Micaiah? SMUT?! *0* I like the way your mind works. :D Unfortunately, I am currently afflicted with TEH WRITER'S BLOCK MONSTER RAWR, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to _what _and _how_ to write it. I can, I know that; I recently wrote a lemon for Dragon Ball Z. If you like that anime, check it out and let me know what you think. There aren't very many Ike/Micaiah, but thanks to ElaiaFlameWolf and other Maiden-Savior authors, that thankfully isn't as big of a problem as it was. :D :D :D Anyway, should my writer's block let up and I do end up writing smut of the Ike/Micaiah variety, you'll be one of the first to know. I promise. :] Also, YOU HAVE SOTHE IN YOUR CLOSET?! *jealous* That's such a good idea.

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	3. Of Friends and Love

**A/N: **I am so, so sorry about the obscenely long wait in between any sort of progress on this fanfiction. That's mostly directed toward the people who read this when it was first updated, since the last time I did anything new with it was in January. Which is horrible. In all honesty, I couldn't be bothered to write it down at all. My idea well had dried up. But now it's running again, so expect updates. I may even finish this. I can see the end in sight, most definitely. :D

So, this chapter kind of just poured out of my head. There's lots of fluff, and I discovered that I have a cheesy mind. Very veeeeerrrrry cheesy. :D;; Anyway, so, fluff abounds, and also, we see some reintroduced characters that will play a much bigger part from here on out. This was actually meant to be one long chapter, but I decided to split it up into two, since, not only are my fingers getting tired, it's 10:30 p.m. where I am right now, and I have to go to school tomorrow. So I'd rather go to bed.

Anyway, another note. I really didn't know what to rate this fanfic, but there will definitely some M-rated bits later on, so I'll be changing that, just to be safe. I think that's all...brain? Anything? (_Nope, nothing that I can think of._) All righty then. Here's the next chapter, and I hope you like it. :D

**Disclaimer: The fun about this sentence is that you don't realize it doesn't say anything until you've finished reading it. Also, I don't own Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance or Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Both belong to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.**

"This" - indicates dialogue.  
'This' - indicates thought.  
**This **- indicates emphasis, in place of CAPSLOCK.

**Chapter 3 - Of Friends and Love**

"But I just don't get it," Micaiah said again. Ignoring Ike's sigh, she continued. "You've never had a problem with Ranulf or…possession issues, much as I am loathe to call myself your possession."

"You didn't seem to have much of a problem with your being my possession when I kissed you and then you asked to wear my headband," Ike replied immediately, a grin on his face. Micaiah punched him in the arm, and found that it hurt her hand a lot more than it probably hurt Ike's arm. "Goddesses, Micaiah, are you all right?" Ike asked, seeing her wince lightly.

"Oh, please," Micaiah said, rolling her eyes. "I may be a girl, but I'm tough."

"I would think so," Ike said with a laugh. "Since, you know, not many girly girls could liberate a country and then go onto rule that country." Micaiah laughed and nodded in agreement. Ike's next comment effectively erased her humorous mood, however. "Speaking of which, what did you mean when you said that Sothe was with Jill? Isn't she married to Haar?"

Micaiah sighed; in all the excitement with Ike, and then the hassle in the hospital, she'd completely forgotten about why she'd left Sothe for Ike in the first place. "Well, one day I was looking for Sothe, just to spend time with him. It was about two weeks ago, actually. I couldn't find Sothe anywhere, and so I finally decided to check the bedchamber."

At this, Ike growled, and Micaiah frowned. Ike had that animalistic look on his face again, like he was going to murder someone. "Ike!" Micaiah snapped, and cupped his face in her hands, shaking his head from side to side lightly. Ike blinked, and then his eyes were confused again as he covered her hands with his. 'That was…easy,' Micaiah thought as Ike's eyes closed as her fingers clenched and unclenched in his hair, and let out a little sigh. This time, when his eyes opened again, they were peaceful. Micaiah smiled at him reassuringly, and then they continued their walk.

"Anyway…I found Sothe. He and Jill were…yeah," Micaiah said, refusing to talk about it. The betrayal still hurt more than she'd like to admit. "It just…it seemed to come from nowhere. I'd always thought he was happy with me…After all we'd been through, when I first met him when he was a little boy in the slums of Nevassa, to when I tried to get him to leave me so that he wouldn't be hated for associating himself with a Branded, to when we finally found each other again, and through all that happened in the Begnion-Laguz War. Through it all, I'd always thought he was faithful to me, since he'd showed such determination in trying to find me, and then protect me, even when the Black Knight…or, Zelgius, rather…took it upon himself to protect me as well."

Ike had been extremely quiet through this, and Micaiah looked at him to see what he had to say, but he just waved his hand and said, "Is there anything else?"

Micaiah frowned, but nodded. "I was…devastated, in a word, when I saw them together. Especially because I'd always thought Jill was just as loyal to Haar as Sothe was to me. It just…it didn't make any sense. I honestly can say that I never expected either of them to…do what they did." Micaiah started; Ike had grabbed her hand and was swinging it slowly between them as they walked. She smiled in spite of herself, and kept talking. "It was just…another betrayal to add to a list of them, all of them equally unexpected. Although, with Edward and Leonardo, I can't say that it was as much their betrayal of me as it was my betrayal of them."

"What happened?" Ike asked.

"They told me that they were gay and married. I should've been supportive of them. I was just shocked. It was another shock that came out of nowhere. I didn't know what to say, then Edward blew up, and he and Leonardo left…I haven't seen them since."

Ike growled. "Hotheaded people are my pet peeve."

"Which doesn't say much for you yourself, now does it, Mr. Hothead Hero?" Micaiah shot back with a smile. Ike unwillingly gave a small smile in return, and Micaiah continued. "And then, it was Nolan."

"What did he do?" Ike asked, honestly curious. What could Nolan have done? Ike had always seen him as intensely loyal to the Dawn Brigade and to Micaiah.

"It turned out that he had been the one giving away our location to the Begnion Occupation Army," Micaiah said dully. Ike blinked in shock, but Micaiah kept talking. "During those long times he would be off running what he called 'errands', he was actually contacting people like General Jarod and other officers, as well as the Begnion senator."

"Nolan? Nolan, the Reaver? The one that constantly served as a tank with Sothe to protect as many members of the Dawn Brigade as he could? The one that always seemed the wisest and most dedicated, save for Sothe? That Nolan?"

"That same one," Micaiah replied. "I saw him…almost like an older brother. He and I were close. Well, we all were, Sothe, Edward, Leonardo, Nolan, and I. But he and I were close, and only Sothe was closer to me than Nolan was."

"That's despicable," Ike said, but Micaiah shook her head.

"He was only looking out for himself," she said, but Ike shook his head twice as forcefully.

"It's still unacceptable. If he had the trust of you four, and then betrayed it willingly, it's despicable," he said with conviction. Micaiah agreed with him, but she couldn't help but to blame herself, even if it was a minimal amount of guilt she actually had. Sure, Nolan had been dissatisfied with how the Dawn Brigade lived, but, wasn't it Micaiah's fault that they lived like that, since she'd refused to surrender the Dawn Brigade to the Begnion Occupation Army, and, being the leader of the Dawn Brigade, the other members had had to follow her, whether they wanted to or not? She let out a tiny sigh, and Ike turned his head sharply to look at her. "Micaiah, I really hope you aren't blaming yourself for Nolan," he said lowly, and the shocked glance Micaiah sent him confirmed his suspicions. He let out a gusty sigh and said, "Look, Micaiah. Nolan was being selfish."

"But if I had just agreed to let the Begnion Occupation Army - "

"Then we wouldn't be walking through the countryside of a liberated Daein right now, and you would be in prison or, goddesses forbid, dead." The harsh tone of his voice made Micaiah flinch. "Micaiah, I love you, honestly I do, but I won't let you guilt yourself because Nolan was selfish."

Despite the smile that graced Micaiah's face at Ike's admission of his feelings, intentional or not, a thought popped into her head that wiped it off quickly. "Explain Edward and Leonardo, then," she demanded. "Are you telling me that I was justified in not making any sort of gesture as to my support of them?"

"When did they made this declaration of theirs?" Ike asked in reply.

"…My anniversary party," Micaiah said hesitantly, and Ike nodded.

"You weren't focused on them. It was your anniversary." He voice caught on the word "anniversary", almost as though it left a bad taste in his mouth, but he continued talking as though he hadn't stumbled. "You were focused on you and Sothe, which is to be expected on your anniversary. Edward and Leonardo were looking to steal your thunder, in my opinion, and when you acted entirely within your rights to be shocked, they made it into a big deal and left. Sure, it could've gone differently, but there's no point living in the world of 'might-have-been'. All it'll do is make the world of 'now' less exciting and worth living in." Ike paused, and then said, "…I…want you to live in the now. We can't be with each other if one of us is spending all their time in another place that they'll never be able to find."

Micaiah looked down, slightly ashamed. She'd been so caught up in her guilt over her friends leaving her, she'd nearly forgotten who was here now, and might just help her move on. And that made her feel an entirely different kind of guilt. "I'm…I'm sorry, Ike. I didn't mean to…I really do want…"

Next thing she knew, she was caught up in a tight hug, and then Ike's lips were pressing on hers again, but this kiss was far shorter. "Don't worry about it," Ike said, looking Micaiah straight in the eyes. "I completely understand; that's why I'm telling you these things. I've seen what it's like to be lost in one's own grief, righteous or not. I won't let that happen, not if I have a chance to stop it."

Micaiah sighed and let her head rest against Ike's chest. Eventually, Ike brought his arms down and laced his hands with hers. "Why do you care so much?" she asked quietly.

"I told you that already, Micaiah. I told you the reasons I came back for you, and what I was willing to do for you. I care because I love you."

"But how do you know?" Micaiah asked desperately.

Ike stepped away from her and looked at her uncertainly. "What do you mean?" he asked warily.

"How do you know that it's love you're feeling, and not some lie your mind is making?" Micaiah asked. "Ike, we were enemies for half of the Begnion-Laguz War. I fought against you, and you were ruthless whenever we encountered each other. You killed members of my army, I killed members of yours. Then, finally, when we were allies, we only saw each other for a short time before we'd split on our way to the Tower of Guidance.

"And then once the war was over, you left! Just vanished from Tellius, and no one was any the wiser as to when or if you would ever return! So how do you know?"

Ike was silent for a few moments after Micaiah's little speech. Then, he said quietly, "We were enemies through no fault of yours. That was Begnion's fault. We fought, again, you against me, on behalf of Begnion. I was ruthless because I was a commander, and I had to be. The casualties of war can be attributed entirely to the Begnion senate. When we were allies and had to split to get to the Tower of Guidance, our overriding goal was to fix the mess that the Begnion senate created. All the blame lies with the senate of Begnion. Not you, not me, not the apostle, not Begnion as a nation, not the Laguz, not the beorc. The Begnion senate.

"And if you wanted to get technical, the true blame lied with Sephiran, since he orchestrated the whole thing originally." He paused, then said, "I left Tellius because…well, I didn't think I was needed any more. Tellius was at peace. My purpose was fulfilled. All was well. So…I left.

"Micaiah, I can't say for sure whether not I know that I love you, since I'm new at this." Ike grabbed Micaiah's hand and placed it to his chest, where she could feel his heartbeat, strong and rapid. "But I do know that every time I thought of you when it became clear that I was lacking…something, my heart did what it's doing right now. My heart would race, my hair would stand on end, and I'd itch to be near you. So badly that I came back for you.

"Soren and Ranulf were content to stay in Malifgrad, but, since I wanted to come back and they didn't trust that I could get across two nations on my own, they came with me. I'm thankful to them, and I really wish that I hadn't scared Ranulf off, and that I could remember why I did.

"I don't know, Micaiah. I really don't. But I do know that thinking of you, seeing you, seeing you smile…that makes me happy. All I want to do is make you happy. Just tell me how."

Micaiah bit her lip, trying to keep the tears from overflowing. She ran toward Ike and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his shirt. "Ike…You do make me happy. My heart was shattered; then you came along and picked up the pieces. They're not back together yet, but…I trust you to put them back the way they were, but better."

Ike sighed and wrapped his arms around Micaiah, stroking her silver hair with one hand as he rested his chin on the top of her head. A while later, he felt Micaiah start to break away, and let her go, except for her hand. She smiled, and Ike smiled in return. "We still have to get you to Rhys," Micaiah said, and Ike nodded. They started walking again, but in a comfortable silence.

Some time later, when it was dark and they continued along the path led by a ball of light that Micaiah held aloft, Ike said, "I think that's a town." Sure enough, they were on the outskirts of a small village. "We can rest there, right?" Ike asked. "We can't just keep walking through the night. Rhys probably isn't going anywhere." Micaiah nodded in agreement. She was tired from walking, and she could tell that Ike was every bit as fatigued, though he was far better at hiding it. She supposed that that was just the way he was, but she could hear it in his voice.

They got into the town, and found the inn easily enough. They went inside, and were met with a cheery blaze inside a warm hearth. The room was nearly empty, except for a couple in robes and hoods sitting in a corner of the room with drinks on the table between them. They stiffened as Micaiah and Ike walked in, but Micaiah ignored them, mostly because they made no move toward her and Ike.

Ike saw the figures stiffen, and his hand went to Ragnell's hilt, and stayed there until he and Micaiah got to the counter. Ike rapped on the counter with his knuckles, and a man Ike assumed to be the owner came toward them. His eyes widened at the sight of Micaiah, and he said in a low voice, "Your Majesty?! Queen Micaiah?! What are you doing here at this hour?"

"Micaiah and I would like to rent a room for the night," Ike said, placing some gold on the counter. The owner eyed the gold, and swept it off the counter into a pocket.

"That's all well and good, but…Your Majesty," the owner said, looking around as though he were afraid he was being watched. "The King has ordered a watch for you and any companions you may have," he said under his breath. Ike's eyes flared and he let out a quiet snarl, but the owner was unfazed. "He said to report it to him immediately, since you were, according to His Majesty, banished. He said to be particularly prompt if your companion was a tall, muscular man with blue hair…and blue eyes. And two rather large swords," he added, eyeing the sheaths on each of Ike's hips.

"Sothe…ordered you to let him know if I was seen with Ike, was he?" Micaiah asked, her tone becoming deadly. The owner nodded, and Micaiah asked, "May we still stay the night, since we've paid your fare?"

"Of course, Your…er, Lady Micaiah," the owner said hastily, not knowing what to call Micaiah since, for all he knew, she was no longer queen. "However, I have to tell His Majesty. Otherwise I risk him finding out on his own, and taking my establishment and only means of livelihood from me. I'm so sorry, milady, but I hope you understand the situation I'm in, as a supporter of the queen but a citizen of Daein nonetheless."

Micaiah looked to Ike, her acceptance of their circumstances clear in her gaze. Ike nodded grudgingly, and Micaiah turned back to the owner and said, "I understand. We'll only trouble you for this one night, and then we are off on our search."

"I will have to let His Majesty know tonight, and the Royal Guard will be here by midmorning tomorrow. Do you think you can be up and gone by then?"

"Of course," Ike and Micaiah said at the same time. Then, Ike said, "Your graciousness is truly appreciated."

The owner gave Ike an appreciative glance and a smile. "You're much more polite than His Majesty made you out to be," he said conversationally. "King Sothe said that you were an undignified ruffian that would just as soon put you in a headlock as look at you. I'm happy to see that he was wrong." Ike gave a small smile, but his eyes betrayed his anger at Sothe's childishness. "As I said, midmorning, they will be here. I sincerely hope that you can be gone by then, Sir…Ike, was it? And…" he trailed off as he looked to Micaiah, who smiled.

"Lady Micaiah will do fine, sir," she said, and the owner returned her smile.

"Just go up the stairs and find the only open door," he said, pulling out a rag and beginning to wipe down the counter. Ike and Micaiah nodded and went up to the room they would share.

As Ike shut the door behind them after they were both in the room, Micaiah burst out, "How dare he do that?! He should know better! Just because he's the king doesn't mean that he can practically threaten the citizenry into helping him carry out his childish revenge. That isn't why we fought so hard for Daein's liberation!" She was fuming, hair flying out behind her as she paced furiously.

She looked up to Ike, who was smiling faintly. "What are you smiling at?" she demanded. "This is no laughing matter!"

"Oh, it's nothing of great consequence," Ike said, as he took his cape off and laid it in a bundle on the floor. Then, he bent over and began to undo his boots, and toed them off, leaving them next to his cape. Next, off came his armored shirt, leaving him in a sleeveless wool shirt, his pants, tied at the waist with a rope, and his socks. "You're just breathtaking when you're angry," he said in an offhand tone, grinning at Micaiah's blush.

"Don't try to defuse the situation, Ike," Micaiah said, trying to appear serious through her blush, which only increased when Ike stretched his arms over his head and yawned, his shirt riding up to reveal a sliver of the skin underneath. He gave her that roguish grin again, and she felt her face heat up so badly she thought she might burst into flames.

"Worrying yourself over it won't do any good," Ike replied in a slow, deep voice, obviously meant to persuade. And, damn him, it was working. "Now, are you going to sleep in full clothing, or are you going to get more comfortable so we can try to get as much sleep as we can?" Micaiah's eyes narrowed, and she wondered when he had gotten so confident. Never mind that it made her want to tie him up and…she shook her head, quickly clearing those thoughts.

"Fine, fine," she said with a sigh, and Ike obligingly closed his eyes as she undressed. Micaiah walked across the room to turn off the lamp, and when it was dark, Ike opened his eyes again. Micaiah was slightly unsettled to find that she could see them in the dark, two luminous, glittering spots of blue in a sea of black. As her eyes adjusted, she made her way toward the one bed, and Ike shifted so that he was lying along the wall on his side.

Micaiah got on the bed and lied down facing the same way that Ike was, out into the room, and immediately felt him move forward so that he spooned his body against hers. His arm made its way around her midriff, and he tucked his head into the joint between her neck and shoulder, and whispered, "Good night, Micaiah. I love you; you know that, don't you?"

Micaiah smiled. "Yes, Ike, I know. I love you, too. Good night." She felt him smile, and then his breathing evened out, and she could tell he had fallen asleep. Sleep for Micaiah was much longer in coming.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Ike squeezed his eyes shut more tightly, since sun was shining through his eyelids, beating a red tattoo on his eyelids. Suddenly, his eyes shot open as he realized where he was, and who was with him. A smile crossed his face as he propped himself on one elbow and looked down at Micaiah, whose hair fanned out like a sheet of quicksilver. Still smiling, Ike got up slowly so as to let her rest a while longer, and dug a small blade out of his shirt, opened the door, and managed to find his way to the washroom.

He walked in and found a small sink with a mirror hung on the wall, and wet his face, and began to shave. He was about halfway done when a voice said, "I liked your shadowed jaw." He smiled and continued shaving as Micaiah walked into the washroom. "You know, for some reason, I imagined that when you chose to shave, you did so with Ragnell or Alondite."

Ike laughed. "Hardly. I'd be more likely to cut off my own head than cut off a few hairs." He shook his head, and Micaiah smiled and giggled.

"I know, I just wasn't thinking," she said, and Ike gave her a fond smile before he turned back to his shaving.

Just as he finished, Micaiah said, "It's almost midmorning. We need to leave soon." Ike nodded, and Micaiah left, presumably to get ready to go. Ike followed her and found her dressing quickly, and began to put on his shirt. By the time he got it over his head and both swords strapped to his waist, Micaiah was buttoning her cloak. Ike sighed as he pulled his cape on and slipped his feet into his boots, buckling them quickly. "You're rather good at that," Micaiah noted as Ike straightened and put his shaving razor in a pocket.

"I would think so, since I've been at since I was a child," he replied, and they smiled before making their way downstairs quietly. They walked outside, and Micaiah pulled up the hood of her cloak, while Ike just shook his head, letting his hair fall into his face, long enough to shield his eyes from the sun. He grinned at Micaiah's haughty look, and the two of them started off.

They got out of the town at a fast but steady pace, and were yards away when Micaiah stopped dead in her tracks. Ike stopped as well, wondering what was going on, and realization dawning when Micaiah turned around, back toward the village they'd just left.

"Micaiah…we can't…" Ike said, but Micaiah turned to look at him, and his resolve crumbled at the desperate look in her eyes.

"Ike, they're there already, and that owner is in trouble. We have to go help him. Please."

Ike sighed and rubbed his chin, and his mouth tightened as he gave a terse nod. The two of them turned around and started running back toward the village.

They got to the town in time to see a company of members of the Royal Guard, clad in ebon armor that was as black as midnight. A captain was arguing with the owner of the inn where Micaiah and Ike had stayed, and then the captain raised his hand. He couldn't do much more before he suddenly fell forward. Micaiah gasped; an arrow was lodged in the back of the captain's armor. She'd recognize the fletching on those arrows anywhere…

"Leonardo," she said breathlessly, and Ike's eyes widened.

"You're sure?" he asked, and Micaiah nodded. Then, their attention was turned to the inn as a blur of reddish-orange moved through the company of knights, a flash of silver seen every so often. "I suppose that's Edward, then," he said, and he and Micaiah started running to help the Trueblade and the Marksman.

_-To Be Continued-_

**A/N II: **Because I can never just have one of these, plus, my brain lied. And I still don't think I'm saying everything I wanted to. Anyway, I'm trying to type through all the fluff, and it's getting quite tricky. Actually, I was only intending to make Ike and Micaiah get to Rhys, but then I was thinking about it, and decided I liked the Dawn Brigade far too much to keep them separated for the rest of the fanfiction. Nolan and Sothe...I honestly don't know what to do with them. If those who read this have any ideas, would you let me know? I'd really like them to at least not be like RAWRANTI-MICAIAH, but I'm at a loss as to go about it. Edward and Leonardo won't be nearly as hard, particularly since I already have that scene all thought out. I'll write it tomorrow.

Anyway, lots of fluff, and, um, also, lots and lots of angst. I guess it's a good thing I put this under Romance/Drama, because there certainly was some of it in this chapter, and there will be more in the chapters to come. Hopefully, the Maiden and Savior can stick together through it all. Review, please. I plan to update much more frequently anyway, to try to make up for procrastinating as long as I did. So let me know what you think. Too much? Please please review.

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	4. A Redress for Past Grievances

**A/N: **I'd make an apology, but something tells me you're tired of hearing them. So, we'll just say that I couldn't be bothered to write more chapters. I've learned that I can't force the story to come. It has to do that on its own time. I'd like it to be a little more forthcoming, but whatever.

Anyway, for this chapter, Ike's "condition" moves backstage in the interest of Edward, Leonardo, and Micaiah. It'll come back, but this is largely a battle chapter, and the next one will be the same, mostly because I like writing battle scenes and would like to get better at them. Anyway, about halfway through this chapter, it switches to dialogue. But the first (I think) half of the chapter is entirely action. It takes an entirely individualistic standpoint, from each of the four recognizable characters, and then it goes to the four of them all together. That's when it switches to dialogue. So, that is that.

Yes, I am aware that what I had the tavern owner do was horribly convenient, but I don't care. It was necessary. :p If you really have a huge problem with it, I can always figure out something else. I'd just rather not, and I don't think what I did was too far out there. *shrug* That's up to y'all, I suppose.

Here's Chapter Four. Enjoy (hopefully), and review, please. And, **MangaMan3000**, I truly do thank you for your tips. Typing this chapter was much easier than the first three. (LOOK I USED SHORTER SENTENCES. ...AND HOPEFULLY I DID BETTER AT KEEPING THE PARAGRAPHS FOCUSED ON ONE THING AT A TIME. :D) Oh, and as a final note, again, this is beta'd by me, myself, and I. So if you could kindly point out any mistakes you find with grammar, spelling, punctuation, or if I've used a wrong name somewhere or something like that, I'd be grateful. :)

**Warning: **As this is a battle-centered chapter, there will be some gore, mostly because I find dying bloodlessly from numerous sword strokes to be unrealistic. I tried not to make it too bad, but it may make some people uncomfortable. My apologies if that turns out to be the case.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn or Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. Those belong to Nintendo and Intelligent Studios. I just take the characters and play with them.**

"This" - indicates dialogue.  
'This' - indicates thought.  
**This **- indicates emphasis, in place of CAPSLOCK or _excessive italicizing_.  
&&&&&& - indicates a change in perspective.

**Chapter 4 - A Redress for Past Grievances**

'We're probably going to end up regretting this,' Ike thought as he unsheathed Ragnell. He noted with detached interest how, even though he carried Alondite around at all times, he never actually used the sword that he'd come to identify the late General Zelgius by. 'I don't use Alondite because it isn't my sword,' Ike realized as he and Micaiah came into contact with the outer squads of the company. 'It'll always be Zelgius's sword in my mind, and I'll never be able to use it.'

He caught a flash of steel out of the corner of his eye, and ducked as the blade of a greatlance swung in an arc over his head. It surprised him vaguely that the soldiers had caught on so quickly. He then realized that it wasn't only him that was attracting their attention. Micaiah, Edward, and Leonardo were all quickly causing havoc in their own right.

Edward was a blur of moving steel and orange cloth. Ike could just barely see the small smile on the Trueblade's face as he flipped up and over the head of one soldier facing him to bring his sword - which Ike saw was blunted and nearly unable to do much more - down and across the torso of another. The soldier that Edward had jumped over only had time to turn around. Then, he fell over, an arrow protruding from his face.

Ike couldn't watch the duo's deadly dance of death and destruction much longer, however, as he had his very own squad of soldiers to deal with. He felt so lucky.

He brought Ragnell around his head and to rest aloft in front of him as he shifted his weight onto his front foot. One hand held Ragnell and the other hung limply down in front of him as he waited.

It came to him that this stance vaguely resembled the stance he'd fought with before Stefan had helped him strengthen his technique. There really hadn't been much wrong with it, or so Ike had thought. Stefan's training had just made his stance and style of fighting more streamlined, more like Ike's father's.

And then the soldiers were upon him, and he had no time to think any more. He let instinct take over. His instinct told him to block the jab of a lance and bat the weapon aside with a flick of Ragnell. He followed through, doing a full spin once before bringing Ragnell across again, slashing across the soldier's chest. He shouldered the now-wounded soldier, causing him to stumble backward into the oncoming soldiers.

They immediately moved to each side like a wave that had been parted. Ike used the distraction to focus before moving forward swiftly and knocking a soldier skyward. He tossed Ragnell into the air and jumped, catching the sacred blade by its hilt. He kicked, then spun and kicked again, then spun in the air, slashing the soldier repeatedly. Then, hit by a sudden inspiration, he switched Ragnell to the other hand, and used his sword hand to punch the soldier out of the air and into the ground. Ike landed on his feet, and sprinted forward, Ragnell trailing behind him.

&&&&&&&&&&&

It was hard to tell which of them was more shocked by Micaiah's sudden appearance: Edward or Micaiah. Micaiah opened her mouth, but Edward shook his head. 'I don't have time for this right now. Not with all these soldiers here,' he thought.

He brought his sword to bear, wishing he'd thought to get a stronger one made or that he'd kept Caladbolg. Not that it mattered. He held enough skill to render all these footmen helpless. He twirled the sword in his hand and then held it horizontally in front of him, his other hand pressed palm against the flat of the blade.

He shifted forward, and then pushed off with his forward foot. He struck downward, catching the other soldier's sword. He then flicked his wrist, knocking the sword away. He brought his arm around and down, slashing the soldier diagonally. Fourth, he jumped skyward, dragging the sword point along the soldier's body. He backflipped, and landed on one knee. The second he did, he leaped forward, moving so quickly that, when he sliced, he sliced through the soldier, leaving him in two pieces behind Edward.

Edward straightened, then flicked his sword to get the excess blood off. He'd have to remember to clean the blade if it survived this battle. He assumed his stance, then was off, knocking soldiers anywhere their defenses left holes, never aiming to kill. However, if that happened, then it was one less definitive worry for him to think about.

&&&&&&&&&&&

Leonardo watched his husband go off, slicing haphazardly. 'That always was his style,' he thought, somewhat fondly. Indeed, Edward had always been the more impulsive of the two of them, though more often than not what he lacked in patience he more than made up for in skill and lethality.

'But his wild strokes with that sword are leaving soldiers completely untouched while he moves onto the next group,' Leonardo thought, shaking his head as a slight breeze ruffled his long blonde hair. Then again, he supposed, that's why he was there. To get those that Edward missed.

He plucked an arrow from his quiver, then thought better of it and reached behind him to grab two more. Unlike Edward, he'd kept Lughnasadh. He held the bow at an angle and laid the three arrows in between his fingers along the slant. He increased the tilt until the bow was almost entirely horizontal, then closed his eyes and released.

He could hear the three arrows whistling through the air, and the puncturing sound they made when they encountered flesh. He opened his eyes to find his three arrows each sticking out from the unprotected throat of three soldiers. 'Why did the regents decide to remodel the armor that way?' Leonardo wondered.

The thought of the regents brought his mind to the two "allies" who had shown up and were now helping them fight back these mindless lackeys. 'Micaiah…what are you doing here?' Leonardo had never actually held that much of a grudge against his former leader. But once Edward had made up his impulsive mind, Leonardo had had no choice but to go along. He wouldn't abandon his husband.

'I wonder if either Edward or Micaiah realize how much being estranged from each other hurts both of them,' he wondered idly as more soldiers came toward him. Evidently, they thought he'd be an easy kill, since he was an archer and was unprotected.

'Hm. How unfortunate for them,' Leonardo thought with a shrug as he pulled another arrow from his quiver and twirled it. He threw it into the air, then leaped and caught it. He pulled back on the bowstring, and released the arrow. It whistled through the air and clanked off the soldier's helmet, making him look up. Leonardo's next arrow caught him in the eye.

Leonardo shot four more arrows. One went through a soldier's heart, another through another's throat, the third through yet another's wielding arm, and the fourth through still another's leg. Leonardo landed in front of the two still standing soldiers and swung Lughnasadh bow side forward. The tip of it caught one soldier in the side of the head, jarring him badly enough to make him fall to the ground. Whether he was dazed or dead, Leonardo didn't know, as he was busy jabbing the remaining soldier in the solar plexus. The soldier doubled over, and his face went right into Leonardo's upraised knee.

'I suppose that hand-to-hand combat practice with Edward helped after all,' Leonardo thought idly as he pulled yet another arrow out of his quiver and shot another soldier. It probably should have bothered him that he could kill so easily. Yet, being with Edward had taught him to focus on what's coming in the immediate future and to worry about the possible ramifications at a time when he could afford to.

'Let them come.'

&&&&&&&&&&&

Micaiah brought the hand not holding the tome in front of her, her index and middle fingers pointing upward from her fisted hand. Her eyes flashed open and her hair flared behind her as a glyph appeared in front of her, and another appeared under her feet, illuminating her from the bottom.

Her fingers moved, tracing the glyph pattern. As it did so, she started to chant. She brought her arm inward, then thrust it out and above her just as she finished her chant. A gyroscopic ball of light appeared over a small group of soldiers. Her arm came down, and so did the ball. Bright light blazed, and when it faded, the soldiers were no longer there.

'Edward…Leonardo…' she thought sadly as she began her chant anew, targeting another group of soldiers. Her arm shot out and came down, and another group vanished from existence. 'Light magic truly is terrifying in its purging power,' she thought.

An arrow landed in front of her feet and she jumped backward, fearing the worst. Her eyes followed the trajectory the arrow must have taken and found that it led to an enemy archer who had nocked another arrow and was taking careful aim.

She ducked under the loosed arrow and hurriedly recited the incantation. A ball of light exploded from the archer, and Micaiah realized she'd gotten the incantation slightly wrong. 'So that's what happens when one doesn't properly chant a spell,' she thought in a sort of detached interest.

Her detached interest kept her from noticing much else. So it definitely surprised her when a huge shadow suddenly appeared behind her. She pivoted on her heel to find Ike staring down intently into her eyes. "Be careful, please," he said, then moved to one side and thrust forward with Ragnell. Micaiah didn't realize there was an enemy behind her until she heard the shocked intake of breath.

She turned around to see a soldier collapse, his sword still held above his head.

She started to thank Ike, but he was already in front of her, bringing his sword in a wide arc that knocked a fair number of soldiers backward. "Attack from behind me," he said, turning and looking at her from the corner of his eye.

Micaiah nodded and began chanting. This time, however, she linked the chant together multiple times, causing multiple light gyroscopes to form in the air above the soldiers. Micaiah willed the Rexaura not to harm Leonardo or Edward, and her arm dropped.

The balls of light all dropped in unison, shooting pillars of light upward in various spots. Ike's arm moved a couple of times, and then they saw Edward and Leonardo finish off five other soldiers.

&&&&&&&&&&&

Then it was Ike, Micaiah, Edward, and Leonardo against the enemy captain. The captain looked from side to side, realizing that he was surrounded on all four sides. He reached into a pouch and brought out a silver stone with golden streaks in it.

Micaiah cursed; she recognized that stone. Judging from Edward and Leonardo's tensing, they'd recognized it themselves, having used it multiple times themselves. Ike turned his head and hissed, "What is that stone?!"

"A Reinforcement Stone," Micaiah hissed in reply. Ike ran forward quickly, but the captain had already raised the stone and said a short chant. The stone glowed, and then fell into pieces around the captain, bringing up huge puffs of dust.

When the clouds dissipated, Micaiah, Leonardo, Ike, and Edward found themselves facing a battalion of soldiers, all dressed in white armor with gold embroidering. Their capes flowed in a summoned wind, and Ike realized that among the foot soldiers were mages, healers, archers, heavily armored generals, and mounted knights.

"This just got really bad," Ike muttered.

"Oh no…" Leonardo said softly.

"This can't end well," Edward said under his breath.

"How can we win this?" Micaiah asked herself quietly, looking at the ground. Just as her shoulders slumped, however, a voice called her name.

"Lady Micaiah!" She lifted her head to see the tavern owner waving a staff in the air. A staff that looked oddly like a Rewarp staff. 'Is it? That seems too convenient,' Micaiah thought, but ran the short distance toward the owner.

She took the staff from him with a nod of thanks and turned around, not noticing as the owner slunk back into his tavern. She closed her eyes and twirled the staff once before holding it aloft. The head of the staff glowed, and Micaiah vanished, only to reappear next to Ike. "Place a hand on my shoulder," she said, and he did so as she held the staff aloft again. She disappeared and reappeared twice more, and managed to get Edward and Leonardo.

Then, she warped them a good distance away. "That barkeep is a godsend," she muttered. Then, she spun around to find Edward staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face. "…Edward?"

"Are you happy for us?" Edward asked bluntly. It didn't take Micaiah long to figure out what he was referring to.

"I always have been," she whispered. "Always, Edward. I was shocked, yes. But never disappointed, never disgusted, never hateful. Shocked…but happy. I'm sorry, Edward," she said, her fists clenching at her sides as she looked down at the ground.

She felt a hand catch her under the chin and lift her head up, and she found herself looking at a smiling Edward. "So am I, Micaiah," he said, and Micaiah fell forward and hugged him hard, crying into his shoulder. "It's all right," Edward murmured. "You were forgiven a long time ago."

Micaiah broke away and wiped her tears. "Then, why didn't you come back?" she asked, yet there was no accusation in the question.

"Because I was ashamed of myself," Edward said with a sigh. "Soon after we'd left, Leonardo gave me…a good talking-to." Micaiah smiled in spite of herself as Edward continued. "He really brought home what I'd done…what I'd said. And the only thing you had said was 'What?'. I suppose I jumped to conclusions."

"You suppose?" Leonardo inquired. His tone was mild, but his face was hard.

Edward waved his hands in a conciliatory gesture. "All right, all right. I **definitely **jumped to conclusions. But I was already nervous, especially because Leonardo and I had, for all intents and purposes, eloped. I don't know why I thought you wouldn't be happy for us. I wasn't thinking straight."

Micaiah smiled. "I still could've been more immediately supportive. Admittedly, it really did come out of left field for me, but…then I thought on it, and I couldn't figure out how I'd missed the signs before." She gave a small giggle, and Edward grinned.

He grunted as Micaiah rushed forward and hugged him again. "…Thank you, Edward," Micaiah said. "I feel like a huge weight's been lifted from my shoulders."

"A weight I put there because of my own hotheadedness," Edward said jokingly, and Micaiah smiled and nodded.

Ike cleared his throat. "Er, if you've finished reconciling and whatnot…"

Edward let go of Micaiah and turned to Ike, an almost unnoticeable glint of wariness flashing in his eyes. Ike smiled and held out a hand and said, "If you could hand me your sword. I just want to examine it."

'What are you thinking of doing, Ike?' Micaiah wondered silently as Edward handed the blade over in its sheath. Ike pulled the sword out and held it across his two hands. He appeared to study it closely, then moved his hands and caught it so that he was holding it at the swordtip and the edge of the hilt. His grip tightened, and the blade snapped in half.

"Ike, why did you do that?!" Micaiah demanded, stomping up to him and poking him in the chest with a finger. "What a great way to help me make up with Edward, snapping his sword! What is he supposed to use now?"

Ike just grinned in reply and unbuckled a sheath from his hip. Micaiah's eyes narrowed, Leonardo's eyes widened, and Edward said, "No way…"

"Edward, would you do me the honor of being the wielder of Alondite? I have no need for the blade since I have Ragnell. Goddess knows that sword you were using didn't do you **any **justice." Ike flipped the sword and held it by its sheath, extending the hilt in Edward's direction. Edward grabbed the hilt delicately, as though he weren't quite sure what to do with it.

"Edward, it's still a sword," Leonardo said with a laugh, and that seemed to give Edward confidence. He pulled Alondite entirely from its sheath and waved it a few times.

"The closest I ever got to this sword was when Mia used it in the Tower of Guidance," he said reverently, his eyes moving up and down the sword's length. Ike tossed him the sheath, and Edward caught it expertly before buckling it to his belt. He started to twirl the blade around and around, acquainting himself with its weight.

Ike suddenly found himself attacked by Micaiah, who pounced on him and smashed her lips to his. Their mouths collided so hard Ike could hear their teeth click against each other. He grinned and gave a playful growl, but were stopped by a gasp and a wolf whistle.

'Oh…we forgot to tell them…' Ike thought as he set Micaiah down and turned her around so that she faced Edward and Leonardo, hiding his face in her shoulder sheepishly.

Micaiah let out a sigh and fought to keep the blush off her face. "Umm…who whistled?"

Much to her shock, Leonardo raised his hand, and Edward said, "Would you care to explain why you were rather enthusiastically sucking Ike's face just now?"

"Uhh…" Micaiah scratched behind her ear as she made a hesitant face. "Well…do you want to know why I kissed Ike, or do you want to know why we were together without…Sothe?"

"The second question seems like a much better one," Leonardo replied, and Micaiah nodded.

"Well, you'll probably never believe me, but…Sothe was cheating on me." She lowered her eyes at Edward's sharp intake of breath.

Yet again, however, she found her head being raised to look into his eyes as he said, "Why in the name of Tellius would he cheat on you?"

"Wait…you believe me?" Micaiah asked disbelievingly.

"Well, a fine reconciliator I'd make if I believed you for one thing and then refused to listen to anything else you said," Edward replied with a distracted wave of his hand. "But that isn't important. Why was he cheating on you, who with, and where does Mr. Big Bad Sword Giver come into it?"

"Well…" Micaiah started, but Ike chose that moment to get over his sheepishness.

"I don't know myself why Sothe would be possessed to cheat on someone like Micaiah," he said. His tone got so sweet when he said Micaiah's name that it bordered on downright sappy. "Anyway, he cheated on her with Jill."

"Jill Fizzart?!"

"Apparently so."

"I thought she and Haar were married!"

"So they are. Like I said, I don't know," Ike said with a shrug. "I just happened to be the right guy in the right place at the right time, I suppose. That's how I come into it."

Edward shook his head, and Leonardo said, "We'll expect more detail, but for now, we've got that captain to worry about."

For some unfathomable reason, Micaiah realized, the captain hadn't made any sort of an advance toward them. "Why hasn't he come yet?" she asked, more herself than anyone else, yet it was Ike that answered.

"That doesn't matter. If he won't make the first move, then we will. But we need to make some sort of strategy. How do those Reinforcement Stones work?"

"They create soldiers made entirely of magic," Micaiah replied. "They're connected to whoever activates the Stone, though, so it'd be much easier if we went after the captain than if we tried to mow all the reinforcements down."

"Then that's what we'll do," Ike said with a decisive nod. "Edward," he said, turning to the Trueblade. "You'd probably rather work with Leonardo, right?"

"I am used to working with him," Edward said, and Ike nodded as though he'd expected no less.

"Then, if it isn't too much trouble, could you and Leonardo go for the magic users? Micaiah and I can handle the armored and mounted knights."

"I thought the point **wasn't** to try and mow them all down."

Ike smiled, and the smile wasn't at all a nice one. "It isn't. It should provide a decent distraction so that we can get through to the captain, though."

_-To Be Continued-_

**A/N II: **I am aware that I probably made their reconciliation seem unrealistic to some of you. To those of you who find it unrealistic, you obviously don't know how guilt and shame can easily make a person willing to do anything to get rid of it. But, YAY EDWARD AND MICAIAH AND LEONARDO ARE OKAY AGAIN. :D I told you they wouldn't stay apart for long.

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	5. As Oil and Water

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the rights to Fire Emblem: Path of Radance or Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Those belong to Nintendo and Intelligent Studios. I just take the characters and play with them.

**Warning:** There is a small amount of swearing in this chapter.

**Chapter 5 - As Oil and Water**

As Edward and Leonardo made their way toward the agreed position from which they would attack, Ike wondered if this would really work. 'Wait, why does it matter?' he thought to himself. 'It **has** to work. It can't not work.' Nodding to himself, he readied Ragnell and watched as Leonardo nocked an arrow on Lughnasadh, Edward adjusted his grip on Alondite slightly, and Micaiah closed her eyes, most likely to prepare for the intense casting she would have to do to help Ike.

They'd decided at the last minute that it would be better to match magic with magic, and leave the rest for Ike, Edward, and Leonardo. There were far fewer sages and bishops than lancers, warriors, swordfighters, and marksmen, after all.

At an unseen signal, Edward charged forward, Leonardo already having loosed four arrows. Ike allowed himself to watch one of the arrows slide in between the plates of one of the foot soldiers' armor before he found himself using Ragnell to counter a stroke from a lance. He gritted his teeth and removed all other thoughts from his mind.

Ragnell flashed, and the lance caught at the junction of the blade and hilt. Before the soldier could thrust the lance forward, Ike twisted his wrist so that Ragnell was parallel to the lance and stabbed forward, cutting through the armor easily. The utter lack of resistance made Ike raise an eyebrow. 'I suppose magic armor has no real defense against a blessed weapon. Edward may find this a lot easier than fighting with a tattered iron blade.'

But his attack had left him vulnerable to a swordfighter's lightning-fast strike, and he turned as best he could, and grinned as the slightly glowing sword clanged off his armguard. He shook his head slowly as he pulled Ragnell forcefully out of the lancer and, using his momentum, spun in a circle, breaking weapons as he came full circle to embed Ragnell deep in the side of the swordfighter.

The swordfighter simply watched him as it dissolved into dust, and Ike stifled the urge to wince. Killing these things was much simpler than killing actual people, if only because of the lack of gore. But that didn't change the fact that their stares were unsettling. These magical constructs lacked actual eyes, in the same way that they lacked actual body parts, an actual body, and the actual ability to breathe and exist. They were made of magic, but magic was not life.

Instead, Ike noted as Ragnell flashed and sang, these magical soldiers seemed to stare at him through tiny jewels with small, pulsating red flashes in their centers.

He heard Micaiah let out a startled yell behind him, and suddenly he was shunted to the back of his mind while something else took over. Something else that had no compunctions taking out its fury on these magical constructs.

He effortlessly cut down enemy after enemy, uncaring as their heads separated from their bodies before both segments disintegrated into so much falling dust. He doubled over, then flung his arm in an upward diagonal as hard as he could, sending a shockwave that reduced no less than a tenth of the magical soldiers to less than dust, less than particles.

He let out a dark laugh, one that increased in volume the more soldiers he cut down. Had he been able to see his own eyes, he'd have seen that they'd turned a blue so dark they looked almost black, and had become flat and dull.

He could feel Yang-Ike trying to push back at him, and allowed himself to curve around that other, brighter part of him, before closing around it, keeping it hostage. He was just beginning to have fun, and he would be damned before he let go of this control so easily. He'd gotten a taste before, when the cat-man had made Yang-Ike startlingly angry, and he'd taken his chance. Then the silver girl had pushed him back and allowed Yang-Ike to come to the surface.

But he was here and he was in control, and he intended to make these things suffer.

* * *

All around him was darkness. Black, sliding, slippery darkness.

He had to get out of here. Micaiah was out there. But he couldn't get rid of this darkness if he didn't know what it was. He reached out a hand that was, surprisingly, as clear as water, and touched the darkness around him.

He recoiled. This darkness was part of him, and he recognized part of it as the impulse for vengeance he'd wanted to take against the Black Knight for his father's death. He'd never had problems controlling it before, and couldn't imagine why it had been able to envelop him so completely.

He began pounding at the darkness, watching it mold passively around his hand, like it knew that no matter what he did, until it decided to let him go, he would stay here in the midst of darkness.

That only encouraged him to try harder.

* * *

Edward wasn't paying attention to Ike, Micaiah, or Leonardo. Ike and Micaiah could look after each other, and Leonardo was just as capable of taking care of himself as Edward was. He was thus content to give all of his attention to cutting down whoever got in his way.

He really was grateful to Ike for bestowing him with Alondite. Now that Edward was using it, he knew he'd never want to use another sword. Even Caladbolg, which he no longer used but still kept just in case, would only ever be used in ceremonies now. As a matter of fact, the only true reason Edward still kept Caladbolg was because he'd worn it when he and Leonardo had been married.

He cut through a lancer, stabbed a swordmaster, tripped a warrior, cut down a sniper. These magic soldiers were no match for his skill. The thought made him smug.

And then he was knocked backward with the handle of a lance and found himself staring into the tip of the blade. Just as the lancer was going to make the killing blow, an arrow shot straight into what passed for the lancer's eyes. The lancer fell backward, and was dust before he hit the ground.

"Have to pay more attention than that," Leonardo said softly as he helped Edward up. The trueblade gracefully ignored his marksman husband, instead choosing to charge forward yet again, making a considerable dent in the magical forces. Leonardo sighed and nocked another arrow, loosing it at an angle that would make it glance off a helmet and distract the soldier long enough for Edward to cut it down. 'We have to work like that, swirling around each other, not missing anything yet keeping the other safe,' Leonardo thought.

'We need to be more coherent, more fluid, yet still distinct enough that we can fight independently.' But he didn't know how to do that.

* * *

Micaiah could tell that something was wrong with Ike. She didn't know how she knew, but she knew. They'd been fighting, and Ike had been cutting his enemies down as they appeared. Micaiah had a strong suspicion that the only reason Ike was having such ease, and Edward as well, was because Alondite and Ragnell were both blessed blades. Doubly blessed, if one wanted to get technical.

She'd been doing all she could to target the magic-users, confident in her ability to take them down. She'd been in for a shock when her first attack simply evaporated in front of one of the sages. She'd tried again, only to have the same thing occur. Narrowing her eyes, she'd decided to try for one of the bishops. She sighed exasperatedly when one of them simply held up a hand, and the Rexaura vanished.

'What is it with these things?' Micaiah asked herself, even as she figured it out; these were magical constructs. Therefore, it stood to reason that her own magic would have little if any effect against them. Magic could not battle against pure magic. It could counter, and it could attack, but if a weaker or specific magic attacked a stronger or broader magic, the weaker would inevitably be canceled.

Micaiah closed her eyes, and felt her senses tingle. She opened her eyes in time to see a bolt of lightning shoot toward her. Her eyes flashed as she raised her hand, a glyph appearing under her feet. Her hair flared out behind her as her hand glowed and the bolt of lightning abruptly stopped, folding itself into a ball which Micaiah then absorbed. She let a fierce smile cross her features; her constant, personal Ward was more than powerful to deal with all but the strongest magic.

An arrow whistled past her ear, making her hair flutter, causing her to let out a startled yell. It was at that moment when Ike in front of her seemed to change. He went from calculated to utterly ruthless, like he'd completely forgotten that their plan was to get to the one who'd invoked the Reinforcement Stone, not slaughter every single thing they could.

As he paused, Micaiah quickly extended her Ward to cover Ike as well, before she turned to become locked in a battle of will between her and the captain's force of sages and bishops. Since they were only magical constructs, they had no real will of their own; their will was that of the one who'd brought them forth. Micaiah was fairly sure that her will was strong enough to match the captain's.

The captain gave some soundless command, and all the sages lifted a hand to shoot fireballs, lightning bolts, blades of wind, dark worms, and even streaks of light toward her. Obviously, the captain was of the opinion that there was strength in numbers.

Micaiah planned to prove to him that strength of will would always trump strength of numbers, given that the willful person's strength matched the strength of their will. She held up both hands, and her Ward flared into being around her, absorbing many of the attacks.

Then, while she was sure that they were distracted trying to break through her Ward, she spun and activated her Rewarp staff with a twirl, making her vanish from view. She would need to time this perfectly, and make sure that she managed to keep the sages' and bishops' full attention. She spun and Warded and Rewarped and spun and Warded and Rewarped. She was rewarded for her efforts as the sages and bishops continued to shoot their magic after her.

Under her breath, she began to chant, the Rexaura glyph appearing under that of her Ward, and she smiled. She'd been one of the first skilled in the magical arts to dig into a way to layer different types of magic on top of one another at the same time. She'd become the best in Daein at it, and she put that skill to use now.

She also took what she'd done earlier in the battle, before this mess with the Reinforcement Stone, as inspiration. As magic of every variety attacked her Ward and was absorbed, it masked the gathering magic of her linked Rexauras. She willed them to downsize and revolve around her right wrist, which she held up as a means of distraction.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven Rexauras formed and began to orbit around her wrist in a perfect circle, all connected by a single white chain; the unending chain of the chant she repeated and linked together over and over.

She waited for the perfect moment.

Finally, when she had deemed the Rexauras ready, she Rewarped, but not to another spot on the ground, but up in the air. As she hovered there, seeming to be held up by the Rexaura and Ward glyphs, she flung her wrist and ended her chant. The Rexauras rapidly expanded to their real size as they settled in a circle on top of the sages and bishops, who immediately began Warding and dissipating the Rexauras.

Micaiah smiled; her spur-of-the-moment plan had worked.

* * *

What happened next could, in his eyes, only be described as poetically divine judgment. He watched the silver girl up in the air while he cut through more and more soldiers, watched the balls of light form over the sages and bishops. He counted six of them.

Suddenly, she winked out of view and appeared directly in front of the captain, who'd been in the middle of the ring of magicians. Her wrist sparked before she shoved it into the open piece in his helmet.

She winked out of view again, landing a short distance away and muttering a few words. The small light he had seen be pushed into the captain's armor suddenly exploded outward to form a full-sized Rexaura. He realized what the silver girl must have done then. She had distracted all of the magicians while making multiple attacks of the same spell, and using some means of transporting to keep the distraction working. Then she'd used all but one of the attacks she'd made, saving the final one to be detonated inside the captain's armor, where he could never hope to escape.

Instantly, a blinding light filled the captain's armor, and then the armor fell to the ground; there was no body in it to hold it up any more. Just as quickly, the remaining magical soldiers disintegrated.

He smirked; there was no reason for him to stay any more. He had no interest in killing the silver girl, the sacred blade, or the blonde marksman. He allowed Yang-Ike to come to the surface, shrinking himself until he was as Yang-Ike had been: a small figure made completely of darkness in a sea of clarity.

* * *

Ike gasped as suddenly, he found himself in control of his own body again. He stumbled and used Ragnell to support himself until he could stay upright under his own power.

While he reoriented himself, Micaiah came over, walking slowly and looking pained. "Micaiah," Ike said, all thoughts of his own disorientation immediately gone. "Micaiah, what is it?"

"Using that much magic all at once took more out of me than I'd expected it to, that's all," Micaiah replied with a wave of her hand. Edward and Leonardo came over, Edward sheathing Alondite and Leonardo putting his arrows back in his quiver. "Come on, now that that's taken care of, we can get you to find Rhys," Micaiah said, beginning to walk again.

Ike felt horrible that she looked so fatigued, and after she'd looked so happy and relaxed just under an hour ago. He felt even worse that, even though she looked exhausted, Micaiah was still worried about his mental condition, following what he had presumed was Heather's advice in seeking out Rhys.

He immediately sheathed Ragnell and picked Micaiah up much in the same way he had when taking her out of the Daein Keep, ignoring her muttered protests. "You tired yourself out, Micaiah," he said sternly, taking any way he could to mask the guilt he felt. "Far more than you should have. So I'm carrying you until you've gotten your strength back. There's no two ways about it."

Micaiah smiled as she rested her head in the crook of Ike's shoulder. She was extremely worried about Ike's sudden change in demeanor, but for now, he was normal - well, as normal as Ike could ever be. That would have to be enough for now. "I'm so lucky to have a man that looks after me like you do," she said, with a tired attempt at humor.

"I know you are," Ike replied, smiling at her. "Now rest your eyes."

Micaiah nodded and complied.

"Ike, why do you need to see Rhys?" Leonardo asked, and Ike looked at the two of them, surprised that Leonardo remembered who Rhys was, since they'd never interacted all that much.

"Well, when we were leaving the Daein Keep, apparently Ranulf made some sort of remark regarding Micaiah, and I got…extremely upset. But I don't remember any of it. We went to talk to a doctor, only to find that Heather's a doctor now. She tried, but said she didn't know what was wrong. So she sent us to try and find Rhys. It was on our way to find him that we stayed at that inn, and found you," Ike explained succinctly, and Leonardo nodded, while Edward tilted his head to one side.

"You say you got 'extremely upset'," Edward said. "'Extremely upset' like how?"

"Extremely upset like enough to scare Ranulf off," Ike replied, and Edward blinked. "Yeah, I know. If I find him, I have to apologize. But I can't apologize for what I did if I don't know why I did it." Edward nodded in understanding, and Ike was forced to slightly alter his perception of the trueblade; he'd assumed that, although impulsive, Edward could be mature, though he was more prone to impulsiveness. It seems that Ike's perception wasn't entirely true.

"Well, then we need to get to Rhys, don't we," Edward said, rubbing his hands together, and Ike blinked this time.

"We?"

"Well, unless you want us to leave you alone now," Edward replied with a mock hurt look. Ike rolled his eyes.

"Of course not. If anything, I'd want you to stay with us because I've never seen Micaiah smile like she had when you two made up." Edward looked slightly abashed, but Ike shook his head. "I don't hold it against you or anything, not any more; you've made up, and that's all that matters. But anyway…let's follow the lady's request and find Rhys."

Edward and Leonardo agreed, and the three of them set off, Micaiah having fallen asleep due to sheer overtaxation.

* * *

It took them only a few days after that to find Rhys, and where they found him was as unlikely a place as they could imagine: looking for Ike.

Ike and Micaiah were resting against a tree, while Edward and Leonardo were climbing in the branches. Well, to be more accurate, Ike was lying on the ground with his head on Micaiah's lap while she stroked his hair, and Leonardo was trying to get Edward out of the tree, while Edward was climbing higher in an attempt to get Leonardo to have some fun climbing a tree.

"Some things about them never change," Micaiah said as she watched them, and Ike nodded, making an agreeing sort of hum in his throat.

"Would you want those things to change?" he asked, and Micaiah shook her head.

"Ike?" Ike sat up instantly; he recognized that voice.

"Rhys?" he said warily, watching as the Saint came walking briskly toward them. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, Ike, but according to Ranulf, you most certainly aren't!" Rhys shot back, making Ike wince. "He told me that you looked ready to kill him. What in the name of Ashera happened?"

"I don't know," Ike replied honestly. "I don't remember."

"How can you not remember?"

"That's what we were trying to find you to help us figure out," Ike replied shortly, and Rhys stifled the urge to quiet down immediately. Despite Ike having been gone a long while and serving in the mercenaries under Titania's leadership, Rhys had always felt that Ike had been a better leader. It had seemed to come to him naturally, when he finally let it; Titania had more experience, but she had been far better suited to being second-in-command.

But, regardless of that fact, Ike held no command over Rhys any more, and Rhys didn't need to follow Ike's every whim. "Ike, he looked absolutely terrified. You know damn well that you're probably the strongest single individual on the continent; what would possess you to - "

"Damn it all, Rhys, I told that I don't know!" Ike cut across him, standing up now. "I'd like to apologize to Ranulf, but I had no idea where he went, and I still don't remember just what I did or what he said that triggered it!"

Rhys studied Ike contemplatively. He could see that Ike's hair had become more unkempt, and noticed that it was due to the absence of his customary headband. He looked to Ike's side and saw Micaiah standing there, Ike's headband around her upper arm, and suddenly learned far more about the situation than he'd ever expected to.

"All right, Ike, come with me," Rhys said. "We aren't far from where Titania's got us set up currently. We'll see if I can't figure out what's wrong. Ranulf is still there, so you'll get your chance to apologize."

"What about Soren?"

"What about him?" Rhys asked absently, before remembering that he'd gone with Ike and Ranulf after the battle against Ashera. "You mean you don't know where Soren is, either?"

"Well, no; I asked them to give Micaiah and I some privacy while we talked, and then when we'd left the room, Ranulf was there, but Soren was nowhere to be seen."

"Odd," Rhys said. "Well, finding Soren won't help me figure out what's going on in that mind of yours, so can we go?"

Ike hesitated, then nodded. "Are you nervous about seeing the rest of the mercenaries?" Rhys asked, and Ike gave another hesitant nod. Before Rhys could say anything, Micaiah had stepped in, planting herself in front of Ike, demanding his attention without actually doing so.

"Ike, I've already told you what they think of you," Micaiah said. "They still respect you immensely, and think the world of you. You're all they talk about. Plus, as you can see by Rhys's example, though he was upset over Ranulf, he isn't mad at you for leaving." She paused then, and turned around to look at Rhys. "Are you?" she asked, suddenly sounding a lot less sure of herself.

Rhys thought about his answer as they all started walking, doing his best not to jump about ten feet in the air when Edward and Leonardo dropped out of seemingly nowhere. Was he mad at Ike for leaving? On some level, yes, he was. Ike had been their commander; commanders don't just abandon their post.

But at the same time, he realized that Ike had never asked to be commander, and he'd never been fit to stay in one place for long. He was a wanderer by nature. Even when he was commander, the Greil Mercenaries were always moving around looking for new jobs or just to see what nature had to offer. So, was he mad?

"Not really, I guess," he said aloud. "I mean, I'm upset that Ike abdicated his commandership of the mercenaries and just…left." Ignoring Ike's wince, he continued, "But Ike, you've always been a wandering soul. I know that, Titania knows that, your sister knows that. We all know. So no, I'm not mad. You were just following your nature."

He paused. "Which gives me reason to question why you're back in the first place."

"Long story," Ike said. "One that I'd rather not go into. Suffice it to say that I came back for a certain Silver Haired Maiden, and happened to show up at the right place at the right time. That's really all there is to it." Rhys could sense that there was a lot Ike wasn't saying, but he respected his former commander's right to privacy.

"Well, here we are, at the current base of the Greil Mercenaries," he said with a grand, sweeping gesture. Ike wanted to study the place, see what his former comrades were living like, but a sudden squealing of his name effectively distracted him.

He stumbled backward as a brown-haired body slammed into his own. He let out a forced exhale and hugged his sister, saying, "It's nice to see you too, Mist. But goddesses, have you been taking lessons in tackling from Boyd or something?" Mist just grinned sunnily up at him, and Ike hugged her again, this time much less forcefully. "I really am glad to see you, Mist."

"You too, Brother," Mist replied. "What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you were gonna be gone for quite some time yet."

"Well, Rhys here says he has a way to help me figure out what this problem is I'm having with my mind," Ike replied. Mist looked at him, confused, but Rhys was calling for Ike, so he went, Micaiah staying behind to talk to Mist.

"Are you with my brother now?" Mist asked immediately, making Micaiah blush. She nodded tentatively, and Mist squealed again. "Finally! I knew he'd find someone eventually! He isn't the type of person who'd do well alone his whole life," Mist said in a matter-of-fact tone. "I'm glad he found someone, and that the person he chose is you."

"Thanks, Mist," Micaiah said, a smile on her face. "That means a lot. I'm glad he chose me, too." Mist giggled, and Micaiah giggled as well. 'I always did get along well with Mist,' Micaiah thought to herself as she and Mist began to chat and Edward and Leonardo moved to the main part of the base. 'Yune did too, for that matter.'

* * *

"Well, Ike, I've figured out what's wrong," Rhys said with a sigh. "But I don't know if you'll like it, or even believe what I'm saying."

"Try me," Ike said dryly, and Rhys sighed again before nodding.

"Your mind has been unbalanced by chaos."

"…All right, you were right, I don't quite believe you," Ike said after a minute. "Explain what you mean, please."

"It isn't a hard concept," Rhys said, but he began to explain nonetheless. "Now, as I'm sure you're aware, in the war against Ashera, Yune bestowed power upon you, correct?" Ike nodded, and Rhys said, "And Yune is the goddess of chaos. Not a dark god, mind, just…a goddess of chaos. Change. Imbalance. And because she chose to speak through Micaiah, Micaiah has been touched permanently by Yune as well."

"So why isn't Micaiah having these problems?"

"Well, what I think it is - and this is pure guesswork, mind - is that Micaiah has the blood of Ashera in her." Ike nodded, understanding dawning on him.

"And with the blood of one goddess flowing in her veins, the influence or even possession of another goddess would have less of an effect."

"My thoughts exactly," Rhys said, looking pleased that Ike understood. "Furthermore, it would make sense that Yune's transfer of power to you formed its own identity in your mind. That would account both for a radical change in behavior, as well as your not remembering," Rhys explained, waiting until Ike nodded to continue. "From the glimpse I gained into your mind with my healing abilities, the closest analogy I could compare your mind to is oil and water."

"Oil and water?"

"Precisely. They can co-exist in the same container, oil and water. But they will not mix, and sometimes oil comes to the top, other times water stays on top. And because you're unbalanced by the touch of chaos, there's no telling where, when, or what will trigger enough of a change for the oil to surface."

"So how can I fix this…imbalance?"

"The only thing that would make any sense would be to be touched by Ashera, since she is Yune's natural counterpart," Rhys replied. "Order makes chaos calm, restores balance. I believe that if Ashera can influence you in the same way Yune has, both herself and through Micaiah, then that should restore balance to your mind."

"So how can Ashera influence me both ways?"

"Well, Micaiah can't be the one to influence you, since she was touched so strongly by Yune, regardless of her blood," Rhys said. "However, there is one other who has the blood of Ashera in her, and yet has not been touched by Yune."

"Sanaki," Ike murmured, and Rhys nodded.

"See if you can grant an audience with the empress of Begnion, and if she can help you find a way to meet with Ashera. If that doesn't work, then I don't know what will."

_-To Be Continued-_

**A/N:** And now I'm back to this story. I do plan to update regularly, now that this is, to date, the only unfinished fanfiction I'm yet writing. And I have a clear idea of where I want this to go. I can promise you that I will not let it become as complicated as His Saving Grace (my A/U DBZ fanfiction) became. Anyway, so, as you can see, in this chapter, I tried to do better at writing battle scenes, and there was lots of general buttkickery.

There was also a lot of talk, and Ike's "mental problem" made itself known again in a big way. I honestly didn't know where I was going with that, and now I do. So you can plan to see many more familiar faces before the fanfiction's through, because Ike's little issue is actually a very important part of the story, and the central cause of his travels across Tellius. It isn't going to be a very complicated story, but that'll be a big part of it nonetheless.

Also, hopefully I made the cause of Ike's mental imbalance plausible. I really was grasping at straws until this little nugget of an idea shone through. I tried to make as realistic to the PoR/RD universe as I could. Plus, I hope you caught the significance of Ike's other self calling the real Ike "Yang-Ike". I stole this directly from the old Chinese philosophy. The only things I changed were the colors associated with each half. Yin is traditionally the black half, the passive half, the feminine half, while Yang is traditionally the white half, the aggressive half, the masculine half.

Anyway, review, please. This story is officially dis-discontinued. :D

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	6. Heart to Heart

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the rights to Fire Emblem: Path of Radance or Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Those belong to Nintendo and Intelligent Studios. I just take the characters and play with them.

**Chapter 6 - Heart-to-Heart**

After Rhys told Ike his theory and suggested what he should do, Ike left Rhys's room and began to explore the base, trying his hardest not to encounter anyone. Regardless of his sister's reception of him, Ike felt more than anxious about meeting any of the others. He had the feeling they wouldn't be nearly as forgiving.

'Why wouldn't they be, though?' he asked himself. 'Rhys himself said that…' "He was mad at me for leaving, but understood," Ike whispered, and ran his hands through his hair, agitated. Understanding wasn't the same thing as not being mad any more. People could understand something and still be extraordinarily ticked about it; Ike knew that as well as anyone else.

"What am I going to do?" he asked himself quietly. "I can't just…drop back into their lives. That…wouldn't work." Micaiah may have been able to drop right in and make buddy-buddy with everyone, but she hadn't been their commander, hadn't taken their staff officer and left without telling anyone where she was going, because she didn't know herself.

Ike sighed again and began pacing, studying the base.

In the main building, where he had been talking with Rhys, there were four floors. The first floor was the general hall, just one huge room with chairs, tables, and things of that nature; not unlike the first floor of a tavern.

The second floor was the mess hall and kitchen. It had a long table with about twenty chairs situated around it, ten on each side. The kitchen was well-stocked both with food and utensils, and it was nearly immaculate. There was a bit of dust on the floor, but that was because Ike had come in from outside.

The third and fourth floors were where the rooms were that the company and (sometimes) guests stayed in. Ike went into one of the rooms, simply out of curiosity. The room he looked into had blue walls with beige designs and a wooden floor. The bed was a good size, with beige bedskirts and pillows, along with blue sheets, comforters, and other pillows. It made for a very nice combination, and Ike smiled. 'If I lived here, I'd probably claim this room.'

If he lived here. He winced as his brain plunged onward, and he thought, 'If I were still commander. If I still had a right to claim a room.' He knew that he was more than likely being melodramatic, but he knew how he'd have felt had someone else been the commander and just left. He'd have felt abandoned, unimportant.

But unless he talked to someone other than Mist or Rhys, he'd never know. He sighed, leaning in the doorway of the blue and beige room, wondering how he would talk to the number of people he'd left behind in search of something else.

* * *

Titania raised an eyebrow as Mist came to the edge of the training area with Micaiah in tow. 'I wonder what Micaiah is doing here,' Titania thought, before giving her head a small shake as she went back to moving through her stances with her long-handled axe.

Ever since Oscar's horse had been wounded in a fight against bandits and Oscar had nearly been killed, he and Titania decided that it would be a good idea for them, as the company's only paladins and two out of three horse-riders in the company (Mist being the third, when she chose to ride her mount), to learn how to fight well on foot as well as on horseback. Horses weren't invincible, and if they were injured or, goddesses forbid, stricken down, Titania and Oscar definitely would be at a loss.

So they'd started training on foot with each other, since their fighting styles were more similar, both being trained in the Crimean army and both being trained to fight on horseback. Titania used a long-handled axe, and Oscar used a lance, and they would spar. It took them a while to get used to moving their entire bodies rather than just the upper half, but they were getting better. Oscar was actually progressing faster than Titania was; although, that could have been because he had met up with Nephenee a few times and she'd given him some advice on how to jab, sweep, twirl, and strike like a lancer. Being a silver knight and trained in that fashion made learning to fight like a lancer a challenge; at least, that's what Oscar said. But he was naturally a humble person, so Titania doubted it was a challenge and figured he just didn't want to make his commander look bad.

At that thought, Titania stopped swinging her axe and leaned on the handle, the blade digging into the ground. 'I'm the commander,' she thought; even after all the time Ike had been gone, she still couldn't get entirely used to the fact that she was completely in charge, and that Oscar was her deputy. For so long, she'd been Greil's deputy officer, and then Ike's when he inherited the company after Greil was murdered.

Titania bit her lip, trying not to think too much about Greil; though she'd moved past his death and could think about him without wanting to cry, the fact remained that he was still dead. And her heart still ached for him. She had fallen in love with Greil, yes; but he had been a broken man, even after Elena's death. She had wanted nothing more than for Greil to be able to pick up the pieces of his life. He had done that, and done it admirably well; but his heart had always remained shattered. The only pieces that were intact were the pieces that Ike and Mist had held. Titania didn't begrudge them that one bit; she would rather he loved them than not love anyone at all.

She sighed and wiped her eyes, telling herself sternly that, regardless of how she felt, Greil had died, and Ike had, after leading the mercenaries, given command of the company to her, and it was to the company that deserved the most attention. "That's what commanders do," she said to herself as she picked up her axe and steadied it, before attacking an imaginary opponent. "They look after their company to the best of their ability and to the exclusion of all else."

* * *

Rolf sat in a tree, arrow nocked, aiming at the wooden target hanging from the branches in another tree. He closed one eye and tilted the bow on a slight angle, so that he could see the path the arrow would take more easily. He waited for the target to show itself more, breathing evenly. Then, he released the arrow, lowering his bow as the arrow whistled through the air, hitting the center of the target with a thud and making it spin in the tree.

'Twenty-seven,' he thought to himself, nocking another arrow and looking around for the next target. There were forty targets in all, or so Shinon had told him. Rolf's goal, as set by Shinon, was to hit thirty-two targets out of the forty. He'd also have to find all the targets, since they were hidden throughout this section of the area surrounding the base. It was an exercise Shinon put Rolf through whenever he felt that Rolf was becoming overconfident.

He leaned backward slightly, looking up higher in the trees, trying to spot another target. There was nothing there that Rolf could see. Knowing that probably wouldn't be good enough, Rolf sighed and made his way down the tree, landing softly on the ground. As he stood up straight, his eyes began scanning the area. He could see where twenty arrows had met their targets on the ground or against tree trunks. Looking up, he could see seven arrows attached to targets waving in the trees as a slight breeze blew. 'Shinon must just hate me,' Rolf thought idly as he began walking.

He stepped on a twig, and jumped, instantly alert. He scowled next, kicking the broken twig out of the way. He started walking forward again, and felt his foot drag on something. He jumped backward as two targets came swinging down from either side, nocking an arrow and shooting one dead-center and then pausing. 'Almost got me, Uncle Shinon,' he thought with a smirk as he loosed another arrow, catching the second target as it began to swing behind the target he'd already shot.

"Twenty-nine," he said aloud, walking forward past the swinging targets, which were quickly losing momentum. Something flickered in the corner of his eye, and he already loosed another arrow by the time he'd turned and seen another target lying in plain view. 'Thirty,' he thought smugly. So far, he was thirty-for-thirty; he hadn't missed a target yet. Rather, any target he'd seen, he'd hit. Shinon would expect nothing less.

He looked up and saw another target dangling from a branch, no larger than an apple. Rolf nocked and aimed his arrow, raising his arm until he was level with the target. He stood perfectly still, watching the apple-sized target carefully. He closed his eyes and exhaled, at the same time releasing the arrow. He heard a light noise and opened his eyes to see the target falling to the ground, an arrow piercing it all the way through. 'Thirty-one,' he thought, tensing now that he was so close to his goal.

He began prowling through the area, searching for targets that hadn't already been pierced by his arrows. He really hoped that he wouldn't have to look too hard. His wish was granted immediately as a large target swam into view right in front of him, attached to the front of a tree. Grinning, Rolf nocked an arrow and, without pausing, lifted his arrow. Just as he was going to relax his fingers, a voice called out, "Rolf!"

Rolf jumped a small bit, but his bow went wild, and he pulled the arrow back too far. He felt the warning stretch and quickly released the arrow, but the bowstring snapped as he let go, making the arrow fly wildly. It still hit the target, but it didn't hit anywhere near the middle, instead hitting midway between the center and the outside edge of the target. Scowling, Rolf turned and said, "What?"

After a few moments, a purple-haired woman in a flowing orange garment and a sword strapped to her waist came into view. Rolf sighed and said, "What is it, Mia? Did you need me for something?"

"No, I just yelled your name for kicks," Mia shot back, making Rolf roll his eyes. Mia was a lot of fun, but sometimes her sarcasm was seriously unappreciated. This was one of those times. Shrugging, Rolf made to turn back around. "Rolf, I was joking," Mia said in an impatient voice, and Rolf rolled his eyes again as he turned around.

"Then what is it?" he asked bluntly, and Mia paused as she came within normal speaking range.

"Rhys wanted me to tell you that he needs you for something. I don't know what, but he said it was important," she replied, and Rolf's eyebrows raised. He nodded and slipped his bow into his quiver, scowling again as he remembered that his bowstring had snapped.

"Fine, but Mia? Next time you need me, could you not startle me into breaking my bowstring?" he asked, and Mia was the one to roll her eyes this time as she nodded. Rolf gave her a sweet smile, one that she grudgingly returned, before leaving the area, making a mental note to retrieve his arrows later.

He walked into the base area, looking around and wondering where Rhys was. He figured the Saint wouldn't be at the training area, although he could see that Mist was, and someone who looked a lot like Micaiah was there, as well. "Micaiah?" Rolf asked himself quietly, then shrugged. He needed to find Rhys.

He found the red-haired man soon enough, since he was out pacing, looking a bit agitated. "Rhys, what's wrong?" Rolf asked, anxious now. "What's happened?"

Rhys's head snapped up, and he looked immediately more relaxed as he waved to the young sniper. "Hey Rolf, we have some new arrivals, and though they won't be staying long, I needed you to help me show them where they could stay." Rolf nodded; he and the other mercenaries didn't take up that much room, and there were a number of guest rooms and things like that that people could sleep in.

"Sure, Rhys, where are they?" he asked.

"Well, Micaiah's with Mist over there," he said, pointing to the training area, and Rolf nodded, having already seen them. "And then Edward and Leonardo are here as well, and I believe that they are walking around, exploring the rest of the base. If you could find them while I go get Mist and Micaiah, then we can show them where to go." Rolf nodded again and set off, looking for the long blonde hair he knew he'd see before he'd see Edward. Leonardo was the more visually striking of the pair, but Rolf knew that the trueblade and marksman were joined at the hip, and where he'd find Leonardo, he'd find Edward.

He heard voices, and grinned, speeding up and ignoring the tiny pains that shot through his back as his quiver and bow bounced against his back. He rounded a corner of a small building that they used to store extra grains and things while they stayed in this base, and found Edward and Leonardo leaning against the side of the building, talking quietly to each other.

He slowed down as he got near to them, and waited patiently for them to notice him. Edward saw him first, and broke off whatever he was saying to grin. Leonardo turned around to see what Edward was looking at, and smiled at Rolf, who smiled back at the both of them. He'd really admired Leonardo for being as formidable with a bow as Shinon, yet as cool-headed and rational as his big brother Oscar. He wanted to know how Leonardo could do that, and figured that it must come from confidence in his abilities. Rolf was no slouch when it came to arching, but he lacked the thoughtless grace that all true marksmen possessed, or so Shinon told him.

"Hey Edward, Leonardo," he said, nodding to them. After they'd responded warmly, Rolf said, "What brings you two here? And I saw Micaiah, too; what's up?"

"Actually," Edward said, "We tagged along because - "

"Because Micaiah and her escort needed to come see Rhys," Leonardo cut across him. Rolf and Edward both looked at Leonardo for a second, then Edward nodded.

"Apparently, it was something important," Edward continued, and Rolf nodded in understanding.

"So, who's her escort?" he asked, and Edward and Leonardo looked at each other uneasily, making Rolf raise an eyebrow.

"You're probably going to want to find out for yourself," Edward said, and Rolf shrugged.

"Okay, then. Come on; Rhys told me that he wanted to show you to the guest rooms since you guys and Micaiah and her 'escort' are staying for a day or two," he said, making quotation marks with his fingers on the word "escort". The two other fighters nodded and followed Rolf around to where Rhys was standing, having gotten Mist, Micaiah, and Titania, who'd apparently been training, most likely with her axe. Rolf knew that she only trained as often as she did so that his big brother wouldn't show her up or anything. Not that Rolf thought it mattered, but Titania obviously thought it was important, and Rolf wasn't one to question his commander.

"I see you found them," Rhys said with a smile, and Rolf nodded. "Can you show them upstairs, then? Mist will help," Rhys said, and Rolf nodded again. Mist smiled sunnily as she led Micaiah inside, and was followed by Rolf, Edward, and Leonardo.

Rolf could hear Rhys talking to Titania in a low voice, and Titania responding in an equally low voice, sounding urgent and…pained? Rolf frowned, but put it out of his mind. He would wait for Titania to say something, if it was truly --

"Hey, Brother!" Mist said cheerily, and Rolf stopped stock-still as they came up to the third floor and saw Ike standing in the doorway, evidently lost in thought, biting his lip as though whatever he was thinking about was nothing pleasant. He started at Mist's call, however, and turned to smile at her.

His smile quickly faded when he saw Rolf staring at him. He watched Rolf somewhat uneasily; Rolf, though easily the most accepting of the three brothers, was also the most excitable and the most willing to tell someone anything new that he learned.

Rolf, for his part, continued to stare at Ike, disbelieving. 'So this is Micaiah's escort?' he wondered, somewhat dazed. While he adored his brothers, he'd always respected Ike with something bordering on devotion. Rolf had been able to see Ike when he first became commander, and go on to become mayhap the best commander the company had had.

Then he had left, and Rolf had hidden his disappointment well. He'd understood, honestly, when Ike had said that he was leaving, but that didn't mean he liked it or that it didn't hurt. What he didn't understand was how Ike could **want** to leave. Wasn't he happy being commander? Didn't he think he was doing a good job? Did he think that Titania could do better? But even as he thought these questions, he couldn't get over the fact that Ike was back right now, standing in front of him.

All these thoughts, feelings, and questions were running through his mind as he and Ike stared at each other, until Ike finally said, "Hey, Rolf. How're things?"

Rolf stared at Ike a bit longer before saying, with a touch of incredulity, "How are things?" Ike nodded, and Rolf stared some more as he said, "They're all right, I guess." He bit his lip while Ike scratched the back of his head, and then suddenly he ran toward Ike, attempting to tackle him but instead being stopped completely by the solid wall that was his former commander.

Ike's arms came around him in an awkward hug and he said, "It's good to see you, too, buddy. You keeping your brothers in line?" Rolf laughed as he nodded before letting go of Ike and dropping to his feet.

"Of course I am, Ike," Rolf said in a self-important voice. "Goddess knows nobody else can do it." Ike laughed while Rolf grinned.

"What's everyone been up to?" Ike asked, seemingly over his nervousness, and Rolf smiled brightly up at him, wondering to himself how Ike could've gotten even **taller**, especially since he'd been really tall when he'd left.

"Just finding ways to get us through the days, I guess," Rolf replied with a shrug. "Oscar and Titania are always training now, Mia's looking a bit like a lost puppy, Rhys does healing for anyone in the area who comes to him, and Boyd spends most of his time hacking away at a wooden dummy."

"Why are Oscar, Titania, and Boyd so focused on training?" Ike asked, his voice concerned. Rolf shrugged.

"My guess is because Oscar's horse got hurt really badly in a fight, and Oscar almost got hurt badly, too," he replied, frowning. He remembered Titania walking in between her and Oscar's horses, gently leading Oscar's while Oscar sat hunched in the saddle of Titania's horse. "And then Nephenee came by and started teaching them how to fight on foot, so that they wouldn't be at such a disadvantage if they ever got dismounted or something," Rolf continued, and Ike nodded as Mist began herding Micaiah, Leonardo, and Edward towards some of the empty rooms along the hallway.

"That makes sense, I suppose," Ike said. "And what about Boyd?"

"He says it's because he wants to make sure that he stays the best reaver in Tellius," Rolf said, before lowering his voice and saying in a conspiratorial whisper, "But **I** think it's because he doesn't want Mist or Titania to get on his case about training any more, so he gets to it before they can say anything." Ike laughed again as he shook his head.

"Some things don't change," he said, sounding like he was talking to himself. Suddenly, he looked at Rolf and said, "What about Mia?"

"Well, Mia I guess only stayed in the company so that she could study under you," Rolf replied, and Ike stiffened, looking uncomfortable again. Rolf frowned and said, "And then once you left, she had no teacher. So she just kind of…didn't want to be around any more. Wanted to go off and do her own thing like you and Soren and Ranulf. But Titania managed to convince her to stay around, saying that they'd need her to help Mist become better with swords and things, since she's the company's only other swordswoman."

* * *

Ike nodded, hair covering his eyes that were steadily becoming more and more ashamed. 'I really didn't think that through before I left,' he berated himself. 'Titania I knew would be an amazing commander, but I didn't even think about Oscar, or Boyd, or Mia, or anyone other than Mist. And I knew that Mist, though she'd be upset, would be okay, since she'd have other people to look after her. Goddesses, but I'm an idiot.'

He sighed and nodded, making his decision before saying, "Right. Well, maybe that can change." Rolf gave him a confused-yet-hopeful-yet-disbelieving look, and Ike continued, "I need to go to Begnion, and talk to the empress. But, after that, maybe I can come back and help Mist, Mia, Oscar, and Titania train. I can even spar with Boyd again. Ranulf is always a challenge, but Boyd is something else. No amount of skill can stand up to the sort of brute strength he's got going for him."

"You're right, but you'd have to talk to Titania before you do anything," Rolf responded, sounding wise now. Ike winced and nodded, ruffling Rolf's hair lightly before beginning to make his way toward the stairs, intending to find Titania.

As he passed Micaiah, she grabbed his arm, stopping him. He looked to her, slightly confused, and his eyebrows raised slightly when she raised herself lightly to kiss him chastely. "Don't worry about it," she said quietly, staring him straight in the eyes. Her golden irises pierced straight through to his own sapphire orbs effortlessly, and Ike nodded. "If you want, I'll go with you," she said softly, and Ike gripped her hand before he could help himself.

Micaiah smiled and said, "You four go on ahead. Ike and I are going to find Titania." Mist looked at them, biting her lip, but Rolf nodded and placed a hand on her arm, mouthing something to her that Ike couldn't see, since he was too busy staring at Micaiah. Just the thought that she was going to be there with him as he talked to Titania calmed him down enough so that he didn't dread the prospect.

Mist eventually nodded and walked with Rolf to show Edward and Leonardo where they could sleep while Micaiah led Ike by the hand down the stairs to the first floor. They had just stepped off the staircase when a familiar voice said, "Ike?"

Ike tensed and turned slowly to see Titania staring at him, mouth slightly open. He gave her a cautious smile, gripping Micaiah's hand as tightly as he could without hurting her. "Titania," he said in as calm a voice he could manage, unwilling to show anything but calm as he faced his former deputy.

"You look just like your father," Titania said, making Ike start. "Except with blue hair, blue eyes, and Micaiah has silver hair, instead of bluish," she continued with a small smile. Ike's smile widened slightly, and Titania said, "Well, come on then. It looks like we've got some talking to do."

Ike wanted to be scared, but Micaiah's thumb was rubbing the back of his hand in small circles, offering him small comfort. But even small comfort was enough, because it was from her. Ike smiled at her as he followed Titania to sit down at one of the small circular tables.

"So, Ike," Titania said, sitting down and waiting until Ike and Micaiah had sat down across from her. "How have your travels been?"

Ike suddenly lost patience, and any nervousness he may have had. Titania may have been willing to make small talk, but Ike needed to know how she'd felt and still felt about him leaving. He figured that he may as well cut to the chase.

"Titania," he said bluntly, "Did you really want to become commander? Did you really want me to leave?"

Titania looked at him for a long time, before she said carefully, "It was your decision, and you were still commander. I wouldn't have been able to say anything against it, even if I'd wanted to."

"Titania, that's a load of nonsense," Ike responded. "You've always been the person I've paid attention to most. You were deputy commander for my father, and you had a hell of a lot more experience with being in authority and looking after the company. You stayed by me and helped me along through it, and I've always prized your counsel."

"Thank you, Ike, I appreciate that," Titania said, before taking a deep breath. "Look, in the interest of not mincing words, I'll say this: I did not want you to leave. You were doing such a wonderful job as commander, and you'd led us to victory against a **goddess**, of all things. And then you just…decided that there was nothing left here for you, and so you departed. Of course I didn't want you to leave, but I recognized that it was your decision as an adult and as someone I'd come to respect. So I accepted your decision."

Ike bit his lip, considering his next words. "Titania, I don't want you to think that I left because of a sense of…unfulfillment. I honestly believed, and still kind of do, that there was nothing else I could do for you or the company. After we beat Ashera…What else could we do?"

"Survive," Titania shot back, sounding upset. "Been a normal mercenary company, like we did way back, before even Ashnard invaded Crimea. That's what we'd done before, and that's what we did after the Mad King's War, and that's what we did after the Begnion-Laguz War. We could've decided to become nobles or fight in the royal armies, and some of us did. Oscar fought with Crimea's Royal Army for a while before deciding that he'd become more accustomed to the mercenary way of life.

"But just because there wasn't a king to vanquish or a goddess to defy didn't mean that you couldn't be our commander any more," Titania said, now sounding on the verge of tears. "While everyone knows your name, you said that you didn't care about that anyway, which is why you refused to become a member of the court. You just wanted to be a simple mercenary. What made things so different after the Begnion-Laguz War and Ashera?"

Ike's jaw tightened; he really didn't know what to say. But he had to say something…

"Titania, if I may," Micaiah cut in, and Ike looked at her, slightly shocked. He honestly hadn't expected her to come to his defense, even though she must have intended to by coming to talk to Titania with him. "Ike was a good commander, yes. But, if you really think about it, he only ever had the chance to be a commander in a time of turmoil. Even after Ashnard was downed, there was still the political unrest in Crimea, not to mention the Begnion occupation of Daein. Even if you did ordinary mercenary jobs, I'd be willing to bet that, more often than not, you did jobs for nobles than for common people. Ike never really learned how to command a mercenary company in a time where there was no tense situation, like after Ashera.

"I don't mean to sound presumptuous, or to say something that Ike disagrees with," - here she squeezed his hand, and he squeezed hers back - "But maybe it isn't that Ike felt unfulfilled, it's that he felt…unprepared. Being a commander of anything, even a mercenary company, is vastly different in a time of pressure than in a time of peace. You know what it's like to be a mercenary in times of peace, which would explain why it's so easy for you to command now. But…Ike never got that chance. If what I'd heard is true, then Ike only became commander in the first place because the commander at the time, his father, was killed and passed the company on to Ike minutes before he died."

"What you've heard is true," Titania said after another silence. "I suppose…I never thought of it that way. Thank you, Micaiah." At her nod, Titania looked at Ike again, who was looking at the floor, looking for all the world like the unsure boy who'd first inherited command of the company. Titania said sadly, "But, Ike, even if you felt unprepared, if what Micaiah says is true, all you had to do was ask. I taught you how to lead in a time of war, and I could've taught you how to lead in a time of peace."

"I know that now, Titania," Ike said quietly. "I just…I didn't think that it would matter. You had…have more experience in leading - "

"But you're the better leader," Titania cut across him gently. "You always were; it was a consequence of the circumstances that led to your ascension to the command. You said yourself that 'we're born into the roles we're given'. That held true for Elincia, yes, but it held even more true for you. You took what Greil had made the mercenaries and made it even better, because you had the same ideals as your father, but you also had the drive to make your ideals realities."

"Titania, I'm so sorry," Ike said, his voice wavering. "I just…even though you say I grew into the commandership, I never really felt like…" he cut off and sighed, and Micaiah gripped his hand, realizing that he was about to say what he'd told her back when she'd first seen him after his return to Tellius.

"Would you like me to say it?" she whispered in his ear, bending toward him. Ike looked at her gratefully, but shook his head. 'No,' he mouthed, 'I can do it.'

He sighed and straightened his back, and his eye glinted with determination as he said, "I never felt like I was the best leader for the company." Before Titania could interrupt, Ike plunged on. "Regardless of how I inherited command of the company, or how well I grew into it, I still didn't lead it the way my father would have. I didn't feel like I was doing the company justice."

Titania rubbed the bridge of her nose, letting out an exasperated sigh. "Ike, to use your own words, that's a load of nonsense," she said. "Of course you wouldn't lead the company the way your father would have; you're not Greil. The only person who could lead the company like your father is your father. And, truth be told, I think the only one who really cared…" she trailed off, her exasperation leaking away as quickly as it had built up. She could see him tensing more and more, but she had to drive her point across. "The only one who cared at all about it was you," she said softly, and Ike's head snapped up to look at her.

He had a glint in his eye that Titania recognized; it was the glint that had been there when Ike had decided to assume command of the company, when he'd decided to help Elincia, when he'd gone against the Black Knight (both times), when he'd fought Ashnard, and when he'd led them against Ashera. It was the glint that said that he was determined to follow through on his convictions, and may the goddesses help anyone who stood in his way.

"You're telling me that I was the only one who was worried about doing right by my father?" he asked in a challenging voice. "That the only one who was worried about maintaining the reputation Greil built for this mercenary company was me? That you'd have been willing to follow me anywhere, even if I led the company straight into the ground?"

"Yet more nonsense comes from your mouth," Titania responded, rising to the challenge. "I am saying that you concerned yourself too much with leading the company for your father, instead of for the company. That you didn't realize what good you'd done for the company since you were so focused on 'doing right' by a dead man. That you would never run this company into the ground, because you were too respected and, despite what you may or may not think, you led us well. I don't regret anything you did while in command of the company, except leaving. As I said before, you didn't have to leave."

Ike remained silent, studying Titania while Micaiah waited silently. Titania watched Ike in return, all the while unable to think of anything but how much Ike looked like Greil and how much it hurt, even now, to think of Greil, no matter how hard she tried to convince herself that she'd moved past his death.

Suddenly, Ike said, "You're right; I didn't have to leave. I hope you understand, though, that I felt that the company would do better in your hands than it would in mine. Even if that were untrue, that's what I thought, and that's what I based my decisions on. I refuse to feel guilty over having such confidence in your ability to lead this company in my stead." Titania closed her eyes; of all the things she'd thought Ike would have said, this was not one that she had expected. "I also refuse to feel guilty over leaving, because had I not, I wouldn't have Micaiah."

Titania opened her eyes and looked at Ike again, reminded forcefully of the former queen of Daein, and of what she now suspected was the sole reason Micaiah was here in the first place. 'So it's true, then,' she thought. 'Micaiah is with Ike…though I thought she was with Sothe.' She recognized that it was none of her business, though she was hard-pressed to inquire about it to the man she'd come to love as a son.

She slowly nodded and said, "Well, since we've had this lovely chat, what will you do now?"

"Rhys has suggested that I go see the empress," Ike replied. "I assume he told you why I came to see him?" At Titania's nod, he said, "Then you know why I'm going. And then, after that, I was actually hoping to come back to the company." Titania blinked two times; she couldn't help it. After he'd said that he didn't regret leaving the company, now he wanted to come back?

"Please, hear me out," Ike said, and Titania nodded slowly again. "I want to come back to the company, but only after talking with Rolf and hearing about some of you training. Specifically: you, Oscar, Mia, and Mist. Rolf told me that you and Oscar want to be able to fight on foot, that Mia's only staying to help Mist become a better swordfighter. If I come back, then I can help you and Oscar, train Mia, and through her train Mist. Plus…I've missed you. All of you."

Ike gave Titania another nervous smile, one that she returned as she nodded yet again, understanding his reasoning. "Okay, Ike," she said. "If you want to return to the company, I really can't say no. I mean, you are the best swordfighter in Tellius. Plus…we've missed you, too." Ike grinned and stood, and Titania stood as well, and they embraced.

"You come back, though, and you're starting at the bottom," Titania warned, only semi-jokingly, and Ike nodded as he pulled away. "And what about Micaiah? What will you do?" she asked the silver-haired woman.

Micaiah thought for a moment, and then Ike said, "Wherever I go, she goes." At Titania's look, he shrugged and said, "We're a package deal. I like having Micaiah near me…and I'm pretty sure that's mutual," he added, looking to Micaiah, who nodded with a smile. "So if I rejoin, can Micaiah as well?" Ike asked Titania, who nodded, making a show of appearing frustrated.

"If she must," she said, faking a huff, and Ike laughed.

"Thanks, Titania…er, Commander," he said, and Titania rolled her eyes.

"Yes, whatever. You'll probably need to get some rest, since you're heading to Begnion," she replied, and Ike's eyes widened as he looked at Micaiah, who apparently had the same idea Ike did.

"Titania," Ike said, and Titania raised an eyebrow as she waited for Ike to say what he was thinking. "Can we hire you to escort us to Begnion? Otherwise, it would only be Micaiah, Edward, Leonardo, and I. We need protecting." Titania rolled her eyes at Ike's huge grin, but she agreed when Ike offered her fifteen thousand gold for their services.

"We accept your offer," Titania said, sealing the spoken contract. "May we serve you well." Ike only grinned and looked at Micaiah, who returned his grin.

_-To Be Continued-_

**A/N:** Apologies as to the lateness of this, but Friday was an extremely busy day for me, and since I'm going to be updating on Fridays...well, you get the idea. Additionally, the next chapter will probably come early next week since next Friday, I leave for the University of Akron.

In reference to my previous chapter, I realized the error I made, even though no one pointed it out. For future reference, I am indeed aware that, by all technicalities, the true apostles of Begnion, the descendants of Lehran, do not actually have a blood connection to either Ashera or Yune. That was simply the idea that made the most sense at the time, and it's the explanation I'm going with, because despite its inaccuracy, it was the best explanation I could come up with.

Anyway, I'm also apologizing if this chapter seems like it drags on and on. But this was a dialogue chapter (and also the longest chapter I've yet written, because of these blasted characters and their need to talk); those do happen. Hopefully, there won't be too many more chapters like this, just full of talking and description, but I needed this to be fleshed out. Hopefully I did okay. In any case, the only other time there might be this much dialogue would be if or when they encounter Ashera.

Also, _look, yay, Greil Mercenaries back in action!!_ This will give me better practice writing battle scenes if nothing else, especially since I didn't get any comments on how I wrote the scenes in the previous chapter. I liked the scenes myself, but I feel that I could do much better, but with only four characters, things would quickly become redundant. Now that I have 12 or so characters, things should get a lot more in-depth, and I'll hopefully be able to write battle scenes worthy of a Fire Emblem fanfiction.

I make no promises, but hopefully, I can find the time next week to get the next chapter written and posted. If not, it will appear sometime the week after next, count on it.

Review, please!

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	7. Disappointing

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the rights to Fire Emblem: Path of Radance or Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Those belong to Nintendo and Intelligent Studios. I just take the characters and play with them.

**Warning: **Spoilers for Radiant Dawn in the second scene.

**Chapter 7 – Disappointing**

It took a few days to prepare, and a number of conversations, but finally, everyone knew that Ike was back, and everyone knew that Micaiah, Edward, and Leonardo were with him. They were all ecstatic that their former commander had returned, and even happier that he'd brought the others with him.

They'd all formed an easy sort of camaraderie, the sort that can only be formed by fighters among fighters.

The night before they were to leave, Ike had found Micaiah chatting animatedly with his sister, and had interrupted as gently as he could, saying that he needed to talk to Micaiah. She and Mist had agreed, and Micaiah had followed Ike to the blue and beige room where he was staying for the duration of their "visit".

"What is it, Ike?" Micaiah asked, curious; except for the occasional greeting and short kisses, she hadn't seen much of her blue-haired man; she assumed it was because he was talking to Boyd, Oscar, and Mia, and trying to do damage control. Boyd had agreed to spar with Ike again, Oscar had… accepted Ike's story and his actions, and Ike had begun training Mia again. With all these sudden obligations, Micaiah could understand that Ike would be all over the place. She was still a little hurt that he didn't seek her out more often, but she tried not to let that bother her. Most of the time, it worked.

"Micaiah, why were the mercenaries more accepting of you, even when you appeared out of nowhere?" Ike returned, his tone merely curious. "Not that I mind it, I think it's wonderful, but why?"

"Well…" Micaiah replied, appearing to think. "After you… left, I was sitting outside on the balcony of the Daein Keep, just thinking. Suddenly, I felt a twinge just on the edge of my mind. It was almost instinctive what I did next."

"What did you do next?"

"I was getting to that," Micaiah said, with no real exasperation in her tone. "Goddesses, but you're impatient." Ike grinned impishly at her, and she shook her head. "Anyway… that was when the bird that Yune had possessed still kept me company."

"Though Yune had departed?"

"Mmhm. I guess the bird had become so used to me; she just stayed with me, even though the goddess controlling her had left. I don't call her Yune any more, though. I call her Schimba."

"Why Schimba?"

"I thought it sounded nice. Anyway, Schimba had fluttered off of my shoulder when I'd turned to look at the direction the twinge had come from, and flew in that same direction. A few days later, she came back with a tiny note tied around her neck on a small ribbon. I pulled it off and it was a note from your sister. She wanted to know how I was and how Schimba had known to come find her."

"Did you ever figure out what the twinge was?"

Micaiah nodded and beckoned toward Ike, who walked behind her to the bed and sat down next to her. She shifted and grabbed his shoulder, and he turned so that he was leaning against her, nestled in her lap with his against her shoulder. They sat like that for a while before Ike said quietly, "Did you figure out what was wrong with Mist after all?"

Micaiah laughed and said, "She was missing you. That's all." The next second, she wished she hadn't said anything, as her response caused Ike to tense, and she could feel him wince and cringe. "I'm sorry," Micaiah said softly. "I didn't mean it like that. It was right after you'd left. I'm sure you missed her just as badly."

"I could've saved everyone a lot of trouble had I stayed here," Ike replied stonily, and Micaiah rolled her eyes.

"Had you stayed, would we have ended up together?" That question made Ike still, until finally he exhaled and shook his head.

"Probably not."

"More than likely not," Micaiah agreed. "So that's that. Yes, you left, but now you're back, and you've been forgiven. By everyone."

"Not everyone's forgiven me, Micaiah."

"You're right," Micaiah replied after a pause. "There's only one person who hasn't forgiven you: yourself."

Ike was quiet for a long time. Finally, he turned his head and looked up at Micaiah, who looked down and had her breath catch at the look of anguish in his eyes. "How could I have just left them like that, Micaiah? How could I have left Tellius at all? This was my home, it had always been my home…How could I just leave it behind like that?"

"You didn't know what you wanted out of life," Micaiah replied simply. "You didn't know whether there was more out there for someone who liberated his country, bridged a racial gap, and defeated a goddess. There's nothing wrong with what you did, Ike."

Yet even as she said it, she could tell Ike didn't agree, from the unhappy noise that made its way out of his throat. Sighing, Micaiah pushed lightly at him, and he sat up long enough for Micaiah to slide down so that she was lying next to him. She held out her arms, and Ike rolled into them with another unhappy noise, burying his face in her shoulder.

'Sometimes, he's just like Sothe,' Micaiah thought absently, then paused. Sothe's name didn't cause any sort of unhappy feeling in her now. She found that she couldn't care less about him now. That made her…happy. Happy and able to figure out how else Ike and Sothe were alike. The similarities were mostly by Sothe's design; that much she had been able to see even immediately after they'd found each other again after the Mad King's War. Both were strong and confident, both were almost jealously protective of those they cared about, both were noble to a fault, both stood by their morals, even when their morals refused to let them forget about someone or something they'd wronged.

"What are you thinking about?" Ike asked her quietly, his voice low.

Before she could think, Micaiah replied, "How similar you and Sothe are."

Ike let out a low growl. "He and I are not that similar."

Micaiah smiled sadly and said, "In all the positive aspects, you two are almost eerily similar. Sothe modeled himself after you; he adored you. When he and I would talk about almost anything, he always managed to turn it into a conversation about you or about something he'd learned from you. No matter what you did, you were always a hero in Sothe's eyes."

Ike was quiet for a moment, and then he said, "That's… flattering."

Micaiah laughed incredulously. "Flattering? That's really all it is?"

"Being a hero isn't all it's cracked up to be," Ike said defensively. "I never really knew how to deal with it; I just never paid attention. In one year, I went from being a nameless mercenary grunt to being the Hero of Crimea. After I abdicated from the court, I was just a mercenary again, until I got into the Begnion-Laguz War on the side of the laguz. Then I was a leader to them and a hero and champion of laguz.

"And after Ashera, I was the Hero of Tellius. Everyone on the continent knows my name. It's… scary. I just… how do you deal with that? With love and adoration from countless masses of people, even with hero-worship and emulation from more than a few of those masses."

Micaiah was quiet; for all the thinking she'd done about Ike, she'd never thought about what it would be like to be a hero. She knew what being adored, emulated, and loved was like; she had been the Maiden of Dawn through the Begnion-Laguz War and the expulsion of the Begnion Occupation Army. Everyone in Daein knew her name; everyone across Tellius knew her name as the (ex-)queen of Daein. She'd dealt with it fairly well, but she'd never concentrated on the fact that not only did Ike have more recognition than she did, he'd had it longer as well.

"I… don't know," she said finally, and Ike didn't reply for a long time. Ike had nestled his face in between her neck and shoulder, and his breathing was so deep and even Micaiah thought he'd fallen asleep.

Finally, just as she was beginning to doze, Ike said, "I know one very big way Sothe and I are different."

"How is that?" Micaiah asked, already half-asleep. She looked toward Ike as he removed his face from her shoulder, and she felt herself snap awake and the burning in his eyes.

"I have you," Ike said, his eyes blazing as his lips connected with hers.

His lips were soft, but the stubble around his lips and across his jaw were prickly, and the contrast was something that Micaiah found she enjoyed immensely. His nose nudged hers, and she sighed, vaguely wondering if Ike had somehow sensed that they hadn't been together nearly as often as Micaiah would have liked.

Ike made a pleased sort of noise in the back of his throat, and his tongue moved slowly forward, tracing Micaiah's lower lip. He latched his teeth onto her lip and tugged lightly with a tiny, playful growl. Micaiah responded by nipping Ike's upper lip, making Ike jerk his head back. He looked at Micaiah long enough to see her give him an evil smirk.

Her smirk was wiped off her face at the heated desire in Ike's eyes as he attacked her mouth. No, he **ravished** her mouth; Micaiah couldn't find anything unpleasant enough about it to call it an attack.

Finally, Ike pulled away, his eyes hooded as he looked at Micaiah, his own lips almost as swollen as hers. "We have definitely got to do that more often," he said, and Micaiah nodded. Ike pulled her close, and they dropped off into sleep that way, neither of them so much as shifting until morning.

* * *

Their departure, when it finally came, was a hurried affair, mostly because Titania didn't see any reason to wait much longer. The sooner Ike went to Begnion, the better. Everyone grabbed their equipment, and they all left the camp. Ike, Micaiah, Edward, and Leonardo were in the middle. Titania was in front of them, Mia and Boyd were to their left, Oscar and Mist were on their right, and Rolf and Rhys brought up the rear. Ike smiled to himself; it appeared that Titania had taken his viewpoint of strategic placement. With her in the front to fend off any sudden attacks from that direction, and four people on their sides, with distance fighters in the back, the four travelers were well-protected. Not that they needed protection anyway.

They moved through the forest quickly, heading south and east along the Begnion-Daein border. There were a few skirmishes, mostly with bandits, but nothing too bad. Ike could practically sense the tension rising off Titania and the mercenaries; they wanted to fight, and they weren't getting enough of one to work off all their nervous energy.

Finally, they crossed over into Begnion, after navigating the knife-edged mountain border that still proved to be the easiest route into Begnion without sailing there.

The night they came within sight of Sienne, they decided to take a rest. It was while they were resting that a thought occurred to Ike. "Rhys," he said, after he'd found the Saint, "I thought you said Ranulf was with you."

Rhys started; obviously, it hadn't occurred to him either. "He was, but I don't know what happened to him," Rhys replied.

"He said he was going to Gallia for a while," Mist jumped in brightly. "He said he missed everyone and wanted to see how Skrimir was doing." Ike nodded, unsure whether he felt more relieved that he wouldn't have to deal with Ranulf just yet, or disappointed since he'd been looking forward to seeing his friend again.

'Definitely more disappointed,' he decided as he searched for Micaiah and found her talking quietly with Titania. "Am I allowed to know what you're talking about so secretly?" he asked the two women, both of whom looked at him and smiled.

"No, unfortunately, you aren't," Titania said sweetly, and Ike pretended to pout. "Oh, stop that," Titania said in a brusque voice. "If you and Micaiah are anything like you and your sister, you'll know soon enough." Ike grinned and shrugged before holding a hand out to Micaiah. She took it, and he pulled her up gently.

"What is it, Ike?" Micaiah asked. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, not really," Ike replied. "Except that I still haven't talked to Ranulf, and I still have no idea where Soren is." Micaiah frowned and leaned into Ike, wrapping her arms around his waist as she placed her head against his chest to listen to his heart beat.

"Do you think Sanaki will know?" she asked Ike, who shrugged.

"I don't know if she will; I'll ask her," he replied. Then he paused, and said, "Are you excited to see Sanaki again?"

Micaiah nodded, having already had this realization. "I'm definitely looking forward to it," she said. "I want to see how she's handling being an Empress, not an Apostle."

"And you want to see your sister again," Ike said with a grin, and Micaiah sighed and nodded. They headed over to where their shared cots were, and Ike laid down first, pulling Micaiah with him so that she fell into him, who fell into the ground.

Ike enjoyed wrapping his arms around Micaiah; it pleased him to no end to know that just as she'd taken his heart, he'd taken hers. Micaiah, for her part, enjoyed the feeling of Ike cocooning her in a container of heat and muscle – she was a shallow girl sometimes.

Just after they'd drifted off to sleep, Titania walked over to them, intending to talk to Ike about training her on foot. At the sight of them both sleeping, with the expression on Ike's face more content than she'd ever seen it, Titania let them sleep. 'She's good for him,' she thought to herself. 'And he's good for her, as well.' She was still curious about Sothe, but deigned not to worry herself over it.

She caught Oscar's eye, and they both smiled. Suddenly, Oscar's head flicked to the side, his eyes focused on a point behind Titania. He snapped towards Rolf, who'd learned to have an arrow ready when his older brother snapped like that. In seconds, Rolf was up and following his brother's line of sight toward whatever was behind Titania.

Rolf was excited; this would be the first time he was actually needed to take care of something or someone. He'd get to feather someone. His new bowstring gleamed in the darkness, holding taut as he kept his arrow trained on the barely moving shadow.

Suddenly, a green glyph glowed in the gloom before a vicious wind began to cut through where they were. Rolf loosed his arrow, but one of the winds caught it and blew it off-course, making it land harmlessly embedded in a tree. Scowling, Rolf made to nock another arrow, but then Ike's voice rang out, "Soren, what are you doing?"

'So I **still** can't shoot someone?' Rolf thought, dismayed.

"Ike?" a voice replied, before a familiar figure walked toward them. "Ike, is that you?"

"I doubt anyone else could recognize your particular brand of wind magic," Ike said dryly, sitting up and laying Micaiah down before standing. "What are you doing here?"

"I had business with the Holy Guard," Soren replied curtly, making Ike blink.

"Er, my apologies, Soren," he said, a tad awkwardly. "I didn't mean to pry."

This time, Soren was the one who blinked, before he said, "Oh… Sorry, Ike. I shouldn't have been so short. I needed to talk to Sigrun and Tanith about something we'd seen while we were away. Remember the mageknights?" Ike nodded in comprehension, remembering that episode of his journey with chagrin and a bit of pain.

"Their magic packed a punch," Ike said, and Soren nodded in agreement. "So you were here after you left Daein?" Ike asked, and Soren nodded again. "Well, it's good to see you're safe."

"Ike, I can take care of myself," Soren replied.

"I know that, Soren, but… I've been a little disoriented of late. I didn't know where you were, so I worried. Again, you have my apologies."

Soren sighed and shook his head. "I take it you need to see the empress?"

"That would be why we're in Begnion, yes."

"Do you want to see her now?" Ike hesitated, looking around at the others and the still-sleeping Micaiah.

"I suppose so…"

"You can simply carry Micaiah, can you not?" Ike nodded and scooped Micaiah up, smiling slightly as she mumbled something under her breath before burying her face in his neck.

"Lead the way, Soren."

_-To Be Continued-_

**A/N:** The title of the chapter applies in more ways than one. It refers to things in the chapter, but it also refers to my feelings about this chapter in general. It isn't nearly as long as I would've liked, being about half as long as the chapter before it. Which I think is lame. But I've been so busy with college that I just...couldn't write much. This is a transition chapter anyway.

My apologies as to the lateness of this chapter. As I said, college is kind of absorbing. I'm trying to find that happy medium where I can focus on all of my obligations, but I'm not doing too well yet. I am, as of now, two updates behind, though with this update, it will be one. I'm going to try and write the next chapter as soon as possible, and that one will be longer. It'll be dialogue (mostly), but...

I had a question for you, my readers. If you'll notice, in this chapter I definitely brought the romantic aspect of the story back into view, if only for a disappointingly brief amount of time; I hit a block in the first scene, can't you tell? Anyway, my question to you is this: Would you like to see a lemon scene, or more than one? I can easily fit one in anywhere in the coming chapters, but I thought I'd ask, because I don't want to put pointless lemons in the story. So that's entirely up to you. Drop me a PM, leave a review, send an email, whatever you like.

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	8. A Change in the Mission

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the rights to Fire Emblem: Path of Radance or Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Those belong to Nintendo and Intelligent Studios. I just take the characters and play with them.

**Warning:** Implied lemon in the third scene. There's only mild detail, but there you have it. Also, I'm pretty sure there are a few spoilers interspersed in the chapter.

**Chapter 8 – A Change in the Mission**

"The capital looks a bit… different," Ike commented as Soren led the group through the streets of Sienne. Indeed, the houses didn't seem as grand or imposing as they once had. It seemed like things had sort of… decayed, but nothing so unpleasant. If Ike had to put a name to it, he'd say that Sienne had… stagnated.

"You remain as astute as ever," Soren said, making Ike stare at him. In all the time Ike had known Soren, the arch sage had never been one for teasing. Humor just wasn't Soren's way, or so Ike thought. A few times in their travels, Soren had made dry jokes, and it unsettled Ike then as it did now. "In any case," Soren continued, with an abrupt return to his usual demeanor, "The reason Sienne looks the way it does is because of a lack of true dedication. Begnion, and especially Sienne, suffered a lot of damage when we fought Ashera. Following her defeat and the true and utter laguz emancipation, it was left to the beorc to rebuild and make Sienne shine again. They're working on it yet, and what you see is a work-in-progress."

"How do you know all of this?" Ike asked Soren, who simply shrugged.

"I've been here a while, since you encountered Micaiah. Like I said, I originally came to speak with Tanith and Sigrun about the mageknights, but Sanaki asked me to stay, so -"

"The empress asked you to stay?" Ike cut across him, eyebrow disappearing into his hairline.

Soren returned his raised eyebrow and said, "Yes, she asked me to stay. Since Sephiran turned out to be… who he did, Sanaki has no one now, no one who can manipulate people. So she asked me to stay to help her in her daily battles with the senate."

"The senate causes trouble for the empress yet?" Ike growled.

"Yes, from what I've heard," Micaiah said, awake now; Ike's voice and the small movements and jostling of her body as he walked had interrupted her slumber. She pushed lightly against Ike's chest and he let her down before capturing her hand with one of his. Micaiah smiled as they continued walking. "The senate is too steeped in tradition. If anything, the renunciation of Sanaki's title as Apostle has increased her woes with the senate, not lessened them. Even Tormod and Muarim are hard-pressed in their duties, all because of the senate."

"What does the senate do?" Ike asked.

"Recently, they've been demanding things of Serenes," Soren put in. "They were doing just that when I arrived in Sienne. I talked around them, and their plan failed. I don't care to know what they were planning or attempting to do."

"I suppose it's a good thing you showed up, then," Ike said, and Soren nodded.

As they turned onto the pathway to enter Mainal Cathedral, a voice said loudly, "Soren? Have you returned with information as to the unknown group of people?"

"Is that Sanaki?" Ike murmured to Micaiah. "She sounds so much older."

Micaiah nodded, pity in her eyes. "Dealing with a Senate accustomed to power as an empress lacking any sort of divine authority and no Prime Minister has made Sanaki much older than she was."

Just then, Sanaki herself walked out to meet the group, Tanith and Sigrun at either shoulder. Sanaki stopped stock-still at the sight of Ike, Micaiah, and the mercenaries. Her shock allowed Ike to examine her. What he saw made him ache. Sanaki had gotten much taller, nearly as tall as Micaiah, and her purple hair went down to the middle of her back, covered by a red-orange headpiece. She walked briskly and her countenance was healthy, but Ike wasn't looking at the physical aspects of Sanaki's appearance.

Even though her walk and look was one of health, Ike could see fatigue and bone-deep weariness just behind the surface of her eyes. Hers were the eyes of one who'd dealt with far too much stress, and weathered it all under her own power. Ike knew that was probably truer than anyone would have liked; despite their positions, as far as he knew, Tanith and Sigrun held little real power anywhere outside the Holy Guard.

Micaiah's hand gripped his tighter, and Ike cleared his throat and said, bowing, "It's a pleasure to see you again, Empress." His voice seemed to startle Sanaki out of her stupor, and she shook her head, hair swaying slightly.

"None of that, Ike, if you please," she said, waving a hand. "When we are alone, it is acceptable to address me by my name."

"That would imply disrespect, wouldn't it?" Ike asked.

"Not if you do so at my request," Sanaki replied. "I tire of being addressed by such names as 'Empress', 'Your Grace', and the like. Those titles are masks that I am no longer willing to hide behind. I wish to be more personable, more relatable. I see the use of my first name as a means to address me as good a way as any."

Ike nodded to show he understood her reasoning. "Very well, Sanaki. It's a pleasure to see you again."

Sanaki smiled. "That pleasure is mutual, Ike. I must confess I haven't heard much of your travels other than from Soren." She paused. "While I'm on the subject, Ike, I must ask that you allow me to place Soren as a candidate for the prime minister's office."

Ike started, eyes wide. "You want Soren to be your Prime Minister?"

"I do," Sanaki replied. "He is skilled in diction and diplomacy… when he so chooses… and he is also capable of finding solutions that my other senators cannot or will not see. He would be invaluable to me; indeed, he has already dissuaded the Senate on more than one occasion since your return and his arrival."

"Soren has told me of this," Ike replied, looking to Soren, who had turned to look at him. Ike watched Soren for a long time, and Soren watched Ike back. Finally, Ike said, "Whether or not Soren allows you to name him as a candidate for Prime Minister is up to Soren."

Soren looked at Ike with something between confusion, eagerness, and hurt. Ike felt a pain at the thought of separating with Soren himself; through everything that had happened since the very beginning of the Mad King's War, Soren had been a constant, the one thing that Ike could always trust to be there when needed. For Soren, too, Ike was the same. A constant. They'd become something closer than brothers in their time; become almost completely codependent on each other. The fear of losing Soren hurt.

"Ike…" Soren started, then closed his mouth, swallowed, and tried again. "Ike, I… I'm needed here." Ike tamped down hard on the desire to say that he needed Soren as well, and nodded.

"If it's what you want, Soren, then by all means. You don't need permission from me," Ike said, his voice heavy despite his words. "If you believe that you can become Prime Minister and help Sanaki run her country, then I can hardly impede you from that. If it's what you want, then all I can do is support you." As Ike finished, he held up his right hand, fisted it, then thumped the left side of his chest before holding his fist out. "Brothers."

Soren's face had gone extremely still, and his eyes were shuttered. He bent his head down, and his shoulder seemed to shake. He stood like that for a moment before lifting his head and mimicking Ike's motions, bumping Ike's knuckles with his own. "Brothers," he said with a firm nod, and Ike smiled.

"For what it's worth, Soren, you'd have my vote in a heartbeat," Ike said, and Soren gave Ike a small half-smile.

"Though your vote would hold no meaning in the actual election, Ike, I do appreciate it," Soren replied. "You aren't who I need to win over, however. I need to win over the Senate."

"That'll be even harder, considering we now know none of the senators," Ike mused, and Soren nodded.

It was then that Sanaki stepped in. "As much as this pleases me, it may not be amiss to go in the cathedral. I can have rooms prepared immediately, should you like them."

"That would be much appreciated, Emp… Sanaki," Ike said, catching himself and making Sanaki smile. She turned and led them inside, and Ike greeted Sigrun and Tanith as he and the others followed.

* * *

"Hello, Ike," Sigrun said with a warm smile. Ike returned the smile and nodded to Tanith, who nodded in return, a short, "Ike," her only greeting.

"Hello, Commander Sigrun, Commander Tanith," Ike replied. "It is an honor to see you again."

"You speak as though you are only a lowly grunt," Sigrun said with a small laugh. "You remain the Hero of Tellius, Ike, and people still remember you as such. Even the children know your name, chanting songs about you as they run through the streets; playing at a game they call 'Wars of the Ages' where everyone fights to be known as 'Commander Ike'."

Ike blushed lightly and rubbed the back of his head, then jumped and glared at Micaiah, who'd pinched him in the side. Micaiah gracefully ignored his glare as she said, "Good evening, Sigrun, Tanith. I hope I find the two of you well."

"Lady Micaiah," Sigrun said, bowing to hide her grin at Micaiah's antics. "It is a pleasure to see Your Ladyship again."

"That pleasure is mine as well, Lady Micaiah," Tanith said in her even tone. Micaiah smiled at the two Seraph Knights, happy that they'd appeared to know of her… happenings regarding Sothe and the Daein crown.

"Sigrun, Tanith," Sanaki's voice called them. "How are Ike and Lady Micaiah to find their rooms if you monopolize their time and keep them from their sleep?"

"Our apologies, Empress," Tanith replied, while Sigrun rolled her eyes at Ike and Micaiah. Ike grinned and Micaiah shook her head, and they went to catch up with the others. Ike noted that, as they walked, Soren walked side-by-side with Sanaki, the two of them talking quietly.

"Tanith," Ike said to the deputy commander, "What do you think of Soren and Sanaki's decision? Do you think Soren actually stands a chance of becoming Prime Minister?"

Tanith was silent as they walked and the others were pointed to their chambers. Finally, she said, "Not if he attempts to persuade the imperial senators. All seven of them, the dukes of Persis, Gaddos Numida, Tanas, Asmin, Culbert, and Seliora all are recently ascended to the imperial senate."

"Is there a difference between the senate and the imperial senate, then?" Ike asked, and Tanith nodded.

"The imperial senate is made up of the seven leaders of the biggest provinces in the empire, the seven I named. The imperial senate, while handling empire-wide issues, also oversees the Sainted, powerbrokers that make up the provincial senate. Though they live in Sienne, every member of the Sainted came from provinces in the rest of the empire. They represent those provinces in the General Assembly, where they discuss issues in front of the imperial senate."

Ike nodded. "So the provincial senate, as you call it, is subordinate to the imperial senate, which is subordinate to the empress herself?" Tanith nodded in reply, and Ike ruminated on that for a moment. Next, he said, "So you'd suggest that Soren -"

"Work on the Sainted, yes," Tanith said.

"If he garners enough of their support, the provincial senate can hold an election that can override the imperial senate's decision," Sigrun said, jumping into the conversation. "Naturally, the provincial senate tends to be segmented and only too willing to fight amongst themselves, so the imperial senate has generally been free to make decisions as they will, and face virtually no opposition from the lower senate. If Soren could garner a majority of their support, then he could very well become Prime Minister."

As Ike was about to reply, Sanaki said, "This will be Ike's room." Ike walked up behind Sanaki and his jaw dropped slightly. The room was almost obscenely ornate and extravagant, with the seal of Begnion everywhere. On the lush rug, on the bedding, on the canopy, on the ceiling, on the pillows, on the bedside tables, hanging from the chandelier, adorning nearly every surface.

Ike continued to stare, until Sanaki's laughter drew him out of his trance. "That was purely to see your reaction, I must confess," she said, giggling. "The expression on your face was priceless."

"So this isn't my room?" Ike said.

"Of course it isn't," Sanaki said with another laugh. "These are the imperial chambers. My chambers."

Ike looked in the room again, and then said dryly, "Now **that** makes much more sense. No room decorated in any sensible fashion would have so many insignias."

Sanaki nodded, amused. "No, Ike, your room is this way." She led Ike down a corridor, and Ike grabbed Micaiah's hand again, and Micaiah, just as amused as Sanaki, followed the two of them.

* * *

"Now then, Ike, I am told by messengers – namely soldiers stationed along the border – that you had a very… interesting reason to see me," Sanaki said, motioning for Ike and Micaiah to sit down around a table in a room that was much utilitarian, and that Ike preferred much more.

"Your messengers are correct, though I cannot imagine why you have patrols on the border," Ike replied.

Sanaki regarded him for a minute before saying, "I suppose I can tell you why I have border patrols. You see, like all the royals of Tellius, I was informed of Lady Micaiah's 'abdication' of the Daein throne."

"Abdication?" Ike repeated, dumbstruck. Then, he drummed his fingers, growling, "Sothe, what lies are you telling…"

"Yes, abdication," Sanaki replied, ignoring Ike's mutterings. "Queen Elincia, myself, King Tibarn, King Skrimir, and King Kurthnaga were informed by King Sothe of Daein that Lady Micaiah had given up her claim to the throne, despite being placed there by the people."

"That's a lie," Ike snarled, and Micaiah placed one of her hands over his.

"Ike, stop," she said gently. "Let me explain this time around." Ike nodded, unwilling to say anything else. Micaiah sighed and said, "Sanaki, as sisters, can you tell me that you honestly believe that I would abdicate the throne of the country I would give my life to protect?"

"The 'as sisters' part is unnecessary, though it has taken me this long to get used to the idea that I have an older sister," Sanaki replied, and Micaiah smiled. "In any case," Sanaki continued, "I did not believe His Majesty's story for a second. I immediately began setting patrols around the Begnion-Daein border, because this story of his deeply unsettled me."

"Indeed it should have," Micaiah replied. "I did not abdicate the throne… willingly, in any case." She then proceeded to tell the story of how Ike, Ranulf, and Soren had returned to Tellius, and Ike's confession, and Sothe's exiling them from the country. She left out Jill, however; that part of the story was one that Micaiah was not willing to tell, for risk of it getting back to Haar.

"The power of kings has gone to his head," Sanaki said once the story was finished, and Micaiah nodded. "I never would have expected such a thing from someone who appeared so dedicated to you."

"It is surprising and pitiful that he did such a thing, and then lied as he did," Micaiah replied. "But I have Ike, and he and I will take care of Sothe."

"I see," Sanaki said. "Then I suppose you and Ike will not need separate rooms."

Micaiah blushed, but Ike said, "It would be preferable if we were not separated, yes."

"I surmised as much," Sanaki said with a nod. "Now then, the reason for the border patrols comes from a source I have that tells me of… insurgent uprisings, for lack of a better term."

"Uprisings?" Micaiah repeated.

Sanaki nodded. "A group of insurgents has been traveling around Daein wherever King Sothe's forces are to be found spreading his story, spreading their own story of what they think is the truth. They say that you were forced to give up the throne, and that King Sothe is a liar and that… well…"

"That what?"

"That the Hero of Tellius has joined with the Exiled Queen, and that they will take back the throne and rule as the rightful Queen and King of Daein," Sanaki replied in an even tone.

Micaiah's eyes widened, and Ike said, "I don't think I'll be in any condition to help Micaiah take back the throne, not until my own issues have been resolved."

"Ah, yes," Sanaki said, apparently having forgotten. "Your reason for seeing me. What is it?"

Without preamble, Ike told Sanaki of what happened immediately after he and Micaiah had left, and what Heather and then Rhys had suggested. When he'd finished, Sanaki's eyes were sad.

"I'm sorry, Ike, but I can't help you."

"Why not?" Ike asked, endeavoring to make his voice remain respectful and not demanding.

"Because, in your explanation, you seem to have overlooked two rather important things. First is the fact that I have no connection to Ashera, neither by blood nor by birthright. That right belongs to Micaiah, as she is the firstborn in this generation of the Altina lineage.

"Second is the fact that you defeated Ashera, and after you did, she and Yune both vanished. Their presence can no longer be sensed emanating from the Tower of Guidance."

Ike was quiet for a long time. Finally, he said in a quiet, defeated voice, "So we came to Begnion for nothing?"

"No," Sanaki replied. "Your arrival in Begnion has sparked things that will affect both Begnion and Daein. Soren will attempt to become Prime Minister, and you will have to do something about Sothe's rule in Daein. Clearly, he has become unfit to rule the nation."

Ike was quiet again, and Micaiah said, "Sanaki, might it be too much to ask for us to beg your leave? Ike and I… need to talk." Sanaki nodded, then suddenly embraced Micaiah, leaning over the table.

"I am happy that I have a sister, and that you are her," Sanaki said. Then, she released Micaiah and straightened, nodding to the two of them before she left. The second she did, Micaiah turned to Ike.

"All right, Ike, what are your thoughts?"

"… It's ironic," Ike said, looking at Micaiah with a rueful smile. "I could become king of a nation that hated me not even seven years ago. This insurgent sect is calling for my help in absconding Sothe of the Crown, and for me to take the Kingship in his place. It's ironic, really."

Micaiah sighed and tugged on Ike's arm, leading him over to the bed and making him sit before unclasping his armguard. "Would you become King of Daein, Ike?"

"If I had to," Ike replied. "And if you asked me to," he added, shrugging the armguard off and setting it against the wall. "I've always been uncomfortable with positions of authority, but… It appears that my discomfiture is irrelevant."

"No, Ike, it isn't," Micaiah said insistently, unraveling his cape from around his shoulders next. She trailed her fingernails lightly down Ike's arms, feeling smug as he shivered. "If becoming king is something you're absolutely opposed to, I won't force you."

"You wouldn't have to force me, Micaiah," Ike said, as though he thought she didn't understand it the first time he said it. "All you'd have to do is ask."

"I thought you wanted to rejoin the mercenaries," Micaiah said, undoing her own cape and draping it over the end of the bed, on top of Ike's.

"The mercenaries are part of a past chapter of my life," Ike said, reaching for Micaiah's arms, fingering the headband she still wore. "You are a part of the current chapter, and all future chapters," he said. Micaiah bit her lip, and pushed Ike's shoulders so that he was forced to lean back and lay on the bed.

"Well then, Ike," she said, moving to straddle him and slipping her hands under his shirt, feeling his warm skin under her fingers. She moved her eyes from her hands to his eyes, and felt her desire increase at the heat and desire in his that always seemed to be there. She bent down, sliding Ike's shirt up as he did the same, making them both have to remove their tops. She placed the tip of her nose to his eyes, staring in his eyes as she whispered, "Would you be my King?"

Ike's eyes darkened as he replied, "We'll take the crown back." Their lips met, and before either of them knew it, their bodies were moving against each other, both sighing at the sensation of skin against skin. They became lost in each other, lost in a world only the two of them inhabited.

* * *

The sun rose the next morning on two bodies so deeply entwined it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began. The only way they could be told apart was the sheet of silver hair that clashed sharply with the shock of blue hair right next to it. Their breathing was deep and even, and their skin was heated with sweat and past exertion.

They both had just fallen to sleep, but if one were to have heard the two of them seconds before, one would have heard a whisper of, "I love you, Micaiah." One also would have heard a whispered reply of, "I love you too, Ike."

They slept until a knock on the door awoke them. Ike woke first, feeling unbelievably content, smiling as he saw Micaiah still asleep. Wrapping a blanket around his waist, he walked over to the door and cracked it open to see Mist standing there. Opening the door to allow her in, he said, "Make sure you stay quiet; Micaiah's asleep yet."

Mist looked at Micaiah's sleeping form, then at her nearly naked brother who was more relaxed than she'd ever seen since before their father had died, and slapped a hand over her mouth to conceal her squeal. Ike grinned.

"Ike, I'm so happy for you and Micaiah!" Mist said in an excited whisper.

"I'm happy for us, too," Ike said with a smile. "Now, what is it?"

"Oh, that's right!" Mist said, her voice still a whisper. "Sanaki said she had a solution for you. She said for you to meet her when you're ready." Ike nodded and then his head snapped toward the bed when Micaiah began to stir. "I'll see you later, Brother," Mist said, then gave Ike a quick hug. She pulled away with her nose wrinkled. "You smell," she told him with a giggle, and Ike rolled his eyes before shooing her from the room, listening to her giggles the whole way.

"Ike?" Micaiah's voice came sleepily from the bed.

Ike smiled and walked over and flopped onto the bed, making Micaiah start awake. Before she could snap at him, he kissed her. He pulled away after a few moments with a grin, and said, "Yes, Micaiah?"

Micaiah huffed, already half-asleep again. Ike pecked her nose, saying, "I didn't think you were one to be slow in the mornings."

"Be quiet," Micaiah said, but threw her arms over Ike's torso, snuggling into his side. Ike smothered a laugh as he turned and wrapped his arms around her.

"So you're a **grumpy** cuddler," Ike said, unable to hold in a laugh when Micaiah just made a wordless noise and buried her face in his chest. He let her rest for a few more minutes, and then said softly, "Sanaki says she has an answer to my problem. She said to meet her when we were ready."

"Fine," was Micaiah's one-worded reply.

"You know," Ike remarked in a casual voice, "You're quite disagreeable this morning. Did you not sleep well?"

Micaiah's head snapped up, her eyes suddenly alert as she looked him in the eye. She studied his eyes and saw the contentment and happiness in them. Suddenly, she gave him a sweet smile and said, "I slept **wonderfully**."

"I'm glad," Ike said, kissing her again, lightly this time. "Whenever you're ready, we'll go."

_-To Be Continued-_

**A/N: **Yay Ike/Micaiah lemons! It's extremely mild compared to... most of the other lemons I've written, and it seems more... mature, I suppose. I think I may do that more often. Detail isn't always everything, as a reviewer was so kind as to point out to me. So... we'll see. I know I'm horribly behind, but guess what? Well... I'll leave that for the next chapter, which I'm also uploading today! Yaaay! :D

Review, please!

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	9. The Remedy

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the rights to Fire Emblem: Path of Radance or Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Those belong to Nintendo and Intelligent Studios. I just take the characters and play with them.

**Chapter 9 – The Remedy**

When they'd made themselves presentable, Ike and Micaiah left the room and headed for the main chamber of Mainal Cathedral, both wondering what Sanaki's solution could be. They bounced ideas off of each other as they walked.

"Do you think she'll do some sort of magic?" Ike asked.

"I don't know, but I don't think so," Micaiah replied. "I don't think there's any magic that she can do that can help you. Of course, I could be wrong, but… I really don't know."

"Do you think she'll get someone else to do some sort of magic?"

Micaiah sighed, quickly becoming exasperated with Ike's fixation on magic as the solution; granted, it probably was, but it was still slightly annoying. "That's probably more plausible," she said. "Sanaki, being largely untrained in any but beorc magic, would probably get some help from someone else."

"You mean a laguz?"

Micaiah stopped short. She had thought that just as the words had left Ike's lips. "I think that's exactly what her plan is," she said. "It's perfect."

Just then, they arrived in the main chamber, where Sanaki and Soren were standing. With them were Tibarn, Janaff, Ulki, Reyson, and Leanne. Ike grinned at the laguz, who grinned back at him, bar Ulki, who simply nodded to Ike and Micaiah, remaining silent.

"It's good to see you again, Ike," Reyson said, and Ike smiled and nodded in reply.

"Ike, well met, or so I like to think," King Tibarn said, crossing his arms and seeming to scrutinize Ike. Ike raised an eyebrow, crossing his own arms and waiting until Tibarn finished his inspection. "Yes, well met," Tibarn said finally. "Well met indeed."

"King Tibarn," Ike said formally. "It's an honor to see you again, Your Majesty."

Tibarn scoffed and waved a hand. "To us heroes, we call each other by name, Ike," he said. "Besides, if what I hear from Ulki is true, you have the option of becoming a king yourself." Ike started, momentarily thrown off by the fact that Ulki had heard… 'Wait, no, he was probably listening to Sanaki when she was telling Micaiah and me of the Daein insurgents,' he thought, quickly calming down. While he wasn't ashamed of what he and Micaiah had done last night, he preferred that people not know; the way he saw it, it wasn't exactly anyone else's business.

"I do have that option, yes," Ike replied. He didn't elaborate on his decision to in fact assist the insurgents and take back the Daein crown, and Tibarn didn't ask. Instead, the king of the bird laguz turned to the two herons and said, "Are you ready?"

"Yes," Leanne said.

"Doing this will be no issue," Reyson said. "Ike has done much for the continent of Tellius, especially in the area of beorc-laguz relations. Because of him, all the laguz were able to unite, regardless of their differences. Those ties have not yet faded, and I do not think they will for a long time. It is only fitting we help him now. Isn't that so, Leanne?"

"Indeed it is," Leanne replied. "It will be our honor to help you, Ike."

'Her speaking of the modern language has improved,' Ike noted, impressed. Although, he supposed a lot happened in four years. "Your help is cherished," he said. "What would you have me do?"

"If you would stand in this circle, Ike," Reyson said, directing Ike to a small circle that was laid in the ground. At four points on the circle were floating balls of light. When Ike had done so, Reyson said, "Soren, Tibarn, Micaiah, if you would stand in these places." He directed Soren to stand directly in front of Ike, and Ike thumped his chest once. Soren nodded and returned the gesture.

Reyson then directed Micaiah to stand directly behind Ike, and she did so, brushing Ike's hand with hers as she moved past him. Ike sighed and remained still as Reyson then directed Tibarn to stand on the right side of Ike. Then, Reyson moved until he was standing on Ike's left.

When everyone was in position, Reyson then said, "Leanne, you know where the others need to go." Leanne nodded and stood in alignment with Soren, yet behind him so that she was farther from Ike than Soren was, yet still facing him; the altar was in between them as well.

"Sanaki, Janaff, Ulki," she said, and the three addressed turned their attention to her. Turning to face the altar, Leanne said, "Sanaki, if you would stand on the left side of the altar, according to the direction I'm facing. Janaff, if you stand opposite Sanaki. Ulki, if you stand opposite me." When they had moved to their respective positions, Leanne said, "We are ready, Brother."

Reyson nodded, and he, Micaiah, Soren, and Tibarn turned to face Ike. "Everyone, Leanne and I will sing," Reyson said. "While we do so, you must remain completely still. Those in Leanne's circle will mimic her stance as she sings, and those in mine bar Ike will mirror mine. After that, you need simply stay still. The galdr will take care of everything else. Are my instructions clear?" When everyone nodded, Reyson smiled at Ike and said, "We will succeed where others have failed."

With that, he closed his eyes, tilting his head back and holding his hands at his sides, open, palms facing upward. Ike looked to Leanne, who he could see had clasped her hands against her. It struck Ike that these were the same stances they'd taken when they'd sung Serenes Forest back to life. 'The galdr of rebirth wouldn't help me here, would it?' he wondered.

They Reyson began to sing, and Leanne quickly joined in. Ike's eyes widened as he realized the heron siblings weren't singing the galdr of rebirth, but the same song they'd used to free Yune. Ike and Mist's lullaby. The galdr of release.

"_Imi sanaki ke ga nona wot, oroko kumoro dametemotowikot, uae rufeto te tiarahow imay, oditiuo mami_…" Reyson and Leanne sang, and when they'd finished, the Mainal altar began to glow. Its light was muted at first, an odd, pale green color. It pulsated, making it seem as though the altar was alive.

"_Imi sanaki ke ga nona wot…_" the heron siblings began again. The light suddenly turned stable, no longer pulsing. "_Oroko kumoro dametemotowikot…_" The light turned brighter, beginning to expand around the altar. "_Uae rufeto te tiarahow imay, oditiuo mami…_" The light deepened in color, and Leanne, Sanaki, Janaff, and Ulki began to glow as a green aura that matched the light from the altar surrounded their bodies.

"_Imi sanaki ke ga nona wot, oroko kumoro dametemotowikot…_" Suddenly, the light from the altar pulsed brightly, and the auras from the four standing around the altar turned into beams that converged on the altar. A pillar of light shot from the altar straight into the air. It looked like a solid beam, but as Ike watched, it began to diverge until it was four beams all twisting around each other.

The tip of the beam came to a stop about ten feet above Ike's head, and the rest of the beam continued to travel, making the beam into a ball of swirling light. When it reached a specific size, it unraveled into four beams that connected with Tibarn, Reyson, Soren, and Micaiah. Reyson and Micaiah began to glow, much more strongly than Soren and Tibarn, though the sage and the hawk king glowed as well.

"_Uae rufeto te tiarahow imay, oditiuo mami…_" Reyson and Leanne's voices suddenly grew sharper, as though they were attacking with their voices. Leanne, Micaiah, and Reyson began to glow like small stars, and Ike started as the world started to look as though he were watching it through a dark film. He lifted one of his hands and saw a black aura undulating around it. 'Is this the instability… the chaos?' he wondered as Reyson and Leanne continued to sing.

Suddenly, Reyson said, "Micaiah, Sanaki, sing the galdr with us. It is almost done." Micaiah and Sanaki nodded and added their voices to those of the herons.

"_Imi sanaki ke ga nona wot…_" Ike gave a strangled gasp as the auras again turned into beams, this time converging on him. It was painful, but it felt… odd. As though a serene force were pushing through his body, calm yet inexorable, cleansing all it touched. He could feel a small lump that resisted the cleansing, and the force left it alone, moving around it and cleansing the rest of him.

"_Oroko kumoro dametemotowikot…_" Ike's eyes snapped open as he felt a coldness standing directly in front of him. He found himself looking into eyes level with his own. They were blue like his, but they were cold, deep, and almost cruelly practical. 'Yin-Ike,' Ike thought spontaneously, like his subconscious had somehow immediately identified this being that was Ike, but dark. Its hair was a darker, less vibrant blue, his skin looked as though it had been tinged with soot or ink, and when it unsheathed its dark Ragnell, the blade was a tarnished gold with black streaks. It did not shine.

"_Uae rufeto te tiarahow imay…_" It moved to strike Ike, but a light appeared in front of him and stopped this dark Ike in its tracks. It watched him for a few moments, before stumbling.

Reyson, Leanne, Sanaki, and Micaiah's voices were unstoppable in their force as they completed the galdr for the fourth time. "_Oditiuo mami!_" The dark Ike went to one knee, looking up at Ike one last time before light washed over it completely before expanding, filling the room with a calming essence, one that was to Ike the true and simplest manifestation of galdrar.

The echoes of the singing faded away, and so did the light, retreating back into the altar, still pulsating. Reyson opened his eyes and exhaled, and the light vanished completely, leaving the nine occupants of the room with only the sound of their breathing as company against the silence.

Finally, Reyson said, "It is done," and Ike grinned before feeling something tackle his back. He twisted and hugged Micaiah hard.

"You did amazingly," he whispered, and Micaiah smiled at him before placing a light kiss on his lips. She released him then, and they both turned to look at Sanaki, who was watching them with something close to true happiness on her face.

"Ike, I am so glad I was able to help you," she said.

"Sanaki, your solution was brilliant. Why no one thought of it before now is beyond me," Ike replied.

"It is of no consequence," Sanaki said, smiling. "What is important is that your mental turmoil, the unbalance in your soul, has been fixed."

"How?" Ike asked; now that it was over, he wanted to know specifics of what had happened. "Reyson, why was all that needed to sing a galdr?" he asked curiously.

"Because," Reyson said, "It takes a lot more to separate and release chaos than to simply release it. If you'll notice, my sister, Sanaki, and Tibarn's aides were situated around the altar exactly the same way that me, Micaiah, Tibarn, and Soren were situated around you. This allowed for backup power should the amount we gathered not been enough."

"Okay…" Ike said, nodding. "And then, why did you have Micaiah and Sanaki sing with you?"

"Because they are part-heron," Reyson replied, without missing a beat. "Though they are half-laguz, half-beorc, the laguz blood in them is heron, and herons have always had the greatest affinity for galdrar. That their heron blood comes directly from Lehran cemented their positions as the third and fourth parts of this chant. Four singers were here. Four is considered the most stable number, as tables, chairs, desks, beds have four legs, and buildings have four walls."

"What about the four points around me?"

"Those were to represent the four directions and the four elements. In your circle, I was at the west position, Tibarn was at the east, Micaiah at the south, and Soren at the north. The west position represents feelings and emotions, being associated with the moon. Since I was one of those cleansing you, I needed to be in this position. Also, herons are associated with the west, the element of which is water.

"Micaiah stood at the south, which represents passion, and is also associated with herons. Tibarn stood the east, which is associated with the element of air and which hawks are associated with. Soren stood at the north, associated with the element of earth, and which dragons are associated with. Hawks are also associated with the north, which is why Janaff and Ulki stood at the north and east positions, while Sanaki and Leanne stood at the west and south."

Ike nodded, really only glimpsing the complexities and planning behind this ritual, but recognizing its effects nonetheless. The forces of chaos and balance were finally in equilibrium in him, and he felt far more serene than he ever had in his life, bar whenever Micaiah was around him.

"Thank you, Reyson," he said, bowing to the heron. "Without your help, this affliction could have cost me much more than it did, which was not much. Although, I still have not found Ranulf."

"The blue cat?" Tibarn said suddenly. "He's in Gallia. He's been there a while, or so he tells me."

"I need to speak with him," Ike said, already beginning to map out a way to Gallia in his head.

"Speak with who?" a familiar voice suddenly spoke from the entrance to the main chamber. Ike spun on his heel toward the source of the voice, unable to believe how easily he'd found him.

"Speak with you, Ranulf," Ike said, stepping forward. Ranulf regarded him with guarded hostility in his eyes, and that made Ike stop short. "Ranulf, I want to apologize for my reaction that while ago when we first returned," Ike said. "It turned out that the forces of balance and chaos had been knocked out of sync, and the chaos would take over at random times. The time I threatened you was one of those times."

Ranulf remained silent, so Ike continued speaking. "Ranulf, you have to know, **know**, that I would never actually hurt you, not of my own volition. We're too close for that, or so I like to think. Tell me, are we no longer friends?"

Ranulf watched Ike for a few moments more, then said, "Ike, your gross overreaction startled me, and, should the 'chaos' have decided to attack me, you would have killed me. Of this I'm fairly sure. I can't… I don't know how to act around someone who could kill me in a snap."

"But that's just it, that will never happen again," Ike said strongly. "Reyson and Leanne helped at Sanaki's request, and they performed a ritual that restored the balance in me. I promise, what happened will never reoccur. I'm so sorry, Ranulf, but I don't know what else to say."

Ranulf sighed, then said, "Well, I suppose your apology will have to do. Besides," he added, a grin spreading across his features, "I do so enjoy watching you squirm. Consider it payback, and we'll call it even."

"Stupid cat." Micaiah laughed and slapped Ike's arm lightly, and Ike and Ranulf walked towards each other, clasping hands when they were close enough. "I am glad we're still friends, though," Ike said quietly, and Ranulf nodded in agreement.

At that moment, Ike felt content. He'd found Soren, made up with the Greil Mercenaries, found Ranulf again, renewed his friendships with the herons, the hawks, and Sanaki. He'd also saved Micaiah, helped her reconcile with Leonardo and Edward, and claimed her heart while giving her his own.

Challenges loomed ahead yet, but Ike felt ready to handle them. He moved back to Micaiah and buried his face in the side of her neck, smiling. Yes, he was definitely ready to handle anything.

_-Fin-_

**A/N: **Okay, now, before you shoot me, yes, this is the last chapter of In Which Ike and Micaiah Finally Get Together. I didn't see the need to drag it out any further; Ike and Micaiah are together, and any immediate problems were resolved. Any that weren't (namely the impending war in Daein, and the fact that *spoiler* still hasn't *spoiler* with *spoiler*) will be handled in the **sequel**. Yes, I'm writing a sequel! Yay sequel!

This took far longer than it should have to finish for being such a short fanfic, but I did have other projects that I had to finish first, which is why this took so long. But it's finished, and I've already got a vague plan for the sequel, which will be called Taking Back Daein. Look for the first chapter to be posted soon!

Read and review, please. Oh, as a final note: the lyrics in italics are, in actuality, the lyrics to "Life Returns", the song used as the galdr of rebirth. The lyrics can be found at http (colon) (double-back-slash) www (dot) serenesforest (dot) net (back-slash) fe10 (back-slash) dawn (dot) html. What I used are the actual lyrics, the reverse kanji.

**[edit 11 September 2009] **Went through and fixed some mistakes in this chapter and earlier ones. If anyone who reads this finds any more, be it grammatical, misnaming characters, or anything else, please let me know. I'm trying to shine the story up a bit.

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